The Halfblood Couple Reads
by McAwesome007
Summary: In the beginning of fifth year people are selected to read about the past, present and future. With a few twists. AU. Harry/Fem!Percy (Nikole) If you have a better idea for a title or summary PM me.
1. Prologue The Boy Who Lived

**I AM ONLY GOING TO DO THIS ONCE FOR THIS STORY, BECAUSE I'M PRETTY SURE THAT IT WILL NOT CHANGE DURING THIS STORY: I do not, nor have or will I ever own the Harry Potter book or movie series.**

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**UN-BETA'd**

**Posted 30 December 2012**

**Minor mistakes editted as of 3 January 2013**

**Total words: 8, 071**

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It was a few weeks into the term of Harry Potter's fifth year. It was after dinner and everyone was busy. Be it with homework, studying or hanging out with their friends. It was simply not late enough to go to sleep yet.

One, Harry James Potter was making his way back to the Gryffindor common room after another grueling detention from Hogwart's residential toad, also known as Dolores Umbridge.

Harry winced as his left hand brushed against his school robes. The angry red lettering of '_I must not tell lies_' standing out on his slightly pale skin.

He conjured some bandages and wrapped it around his injured hand and then sticking the end of the bandage firmly in place by using a sticking charm on it.

He was so busy with treating his wound that he never noticed the pulsing light that seemed to get bigger the closer it came to him. Before he could react he the light engulfed him.

Before he knew what was happening he found himself falling into a room. With a grunt he landed on the fluffy black carpet that seemed to stretch over the room.

As he slowly righted himself he became aware that he could hear small moans of pain from around the room.

"Everybody alright?" he heard the unmistakable grandfatherly voice of Albus Dumbledore.

A series of positive feedback in the form of grunts and moans was the reply.

Harry stood up to look around the room where he noticed the Weasley's, Fleur, Hermione, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson and to his dismay Snape and Draco Malfoy.

"What are we doing here?" Hermione questioned.

Before anyone could answer her a note popped into the room and started reading itself. It started with a voice that obviously belonged to a young man.

_Hi everyone,_

_I'm James Sirius Potter __and I'm really sorry dad, but this was the only way._

Gasps filled the room.

Harry was to busy thinking that he would actually be a father that he did not hear the part about being sorry. _I'm going to be a father!_

_I'm sorry this has to happen like this but we have gathered you all here today so that you could read a couple of books about the past, present and future_

Why are you speaking so formally? Came a young female's voice, almost childlike.

_Sorry for the confusion but we are recording this using a dicta-quill and to answer your question they don't know us yet so we can't really be all buddy-buddy_

_The time outside of this room is frozen._

_More people might be coming later, especially one special person._

One special person?

_Yes, mom you idiot. Dad doesn't know her yet so we have to find her first before we can send her to them._ Another boy's voice commented.

A small unnoticed sob escaped Ginny. _He doesn't know his future wife yet!_

_You guys, shut up! The dicta-quill is still going and mom and dad will flay ground you for speaking like that to Lily. Anyway hope you enjoy. Oh, points can not be given or taken and the same goes for detentions, because without these books you wouldn't have known about it._

_Enjoy,_

_PS. The room works just like the Room of Requirements._

Silence rang through the room like a gun shot.

Hermione decided to break the silence by stating "That means that this _James S. Potter_ is your son, Harry."

"I'm going to have a son?" He asked somewhat dazed - even though the answer was very obviously he felt that he had to voice it, maybe then it would feel more believable.

"But, they said you haven't met '_mom_' yet. I wonder who could it be…" She trailed off

Everyone was so in thought or still shocked that no one noticed the heart-broken faces of Ginevra Weasley and her mother.

"... And apparently you are going to have a daughter named Lily and you must have another son..." Going in a trance like state while she tried to analyze everything.

"My godson is going to get some!" Sirius sang out with a big grin on his face before being reprimanded by the majority of the women in the room.

"So where are-"

"-these so called-"

"books?" The Weasley twins finished simultaneously.

A blue light filled the room before decreasing in size until the blue light was centered on the dark coffee table in the living room. When the light resided completely there was one book, that had no title or any indication of what it was about - just a plain red leather-bound book with a post-it note on it.

Harry slowly approached the book and picked up the note.

"It says '_After each book has been read the next will appear. The books have been charmed so no one can read ahead. Enjoy!_"

"Shall we start reading then?" Dumbledore inquired

Everyone steadily agreed and readily moved towards the living area, all besides Snape and Malfoy after grumbling about reading about '_pampered-potter-the-prat_' before finding seats mostly away from everyone but close enough to hear.

Most of the Weasley's moved towards one of the bigger couches, a few noticed Ginny's face which had a few tears down her cheeks, but she went ignored for everyone knew about her unhealthy fan-girl obsession she had with Harry, who everyone knew hated fan-girls.

Ron, Hermione and Harry sat on a big sofa like the Weasley's where Hermione sat in between the two boys. The three chasers sat next to them. Katie Bell being the closest to Harry.

Tonks, Remus and Sirius moved to a couch that could seat three people.

Bill and Fleur moved to a love seat that was closest to the Weasley's.

The rest of the people seated around the room in various arm chairs.

"Who wants to read?" Hermione questioned, when no one came forward she took the book before stating,"honestly you'd think it's going to kill you"

To which Ron rumbled, "You get those."

Ignoring him completely she opened the book with a mild look of surprise on her face before opening the nameless book.

Clearing her throat she began,**CHAPTER ONE - ****The Boy Who Lived**

"What these books are about me?" Harry yelped

"Well unless you know another Boy-Who-Lived?" One of the Weasley twins questioned

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

"Your quite welcome." Fred and George chorused in a stuck up pompous tone.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"_Aghast!_" Was the noise that George Weasley made before he pretended to faint into his brothers open arms.

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.**

"Such lovely people." Katie stated sarcastically.

"You have no idea." Harry muttered, although he did not mean for it to be heard a few people did however hear and were giving him a questioning look which went ignored.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

The Twins, Harry and Ron burst out laughing while Arthur chuckled quietly much to Molly's disapproval.

"There's nothing small, nor fine about him!" Ron stated making the laughter louder

"Ronald!" Molly reprimanded him, while a few that found it funny rolled their eyes at her.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.**

"What secret?"

**They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"There's nothing wrong with the Potters!" Sirius all but snarled. No one wanted to point out that he spoke in the present tense.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister b****ecause her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish**

"Not a word." Grumbled Hermione.

"Well I for one am glad that I'm '_unDursleyish_'." Harry stated while crossing his arms across his chest.

"Yes, me too." Katie agreed, seeing the questioning looks she continued, "I don't know if I could take having to see some half-animal, half-human, hybrid-thing each day."

"We've corrupted you." The twins breathed, their voices sounding awed, the same time Alicia and Angelina sobbed, "They've corrupted you."

"Carry on, miss Granger." Sighed McGonagall.

**as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street.**

**The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"Yeah, well I don't want to mix with a child like yours either." Harry pouted jokingly, sounding like a five year old child.

"Aww, look how cute he is!" Angelina cooed while Alicia reached over to pinch his cheeks and Katie held him in place.

Everyone watched with amused expressions at what looked like three older sisters trying to force their young brother into doing something against his will.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country.**

**Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"Brat."

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Harry and Tonks roared making people jump. Hermione screamed with fright before hitting a laughing Harry with the book. Remus was rubbing his ears while scowling at Tonks and Sirius, who were laughing quite loudly.

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke,"**

"He encourages zat?" Fleur asked outraged - her accent noticeably lighter than the previous term at Hogwarts.

**Chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map.**

"Minnie." Sirius and Remus grinned at said Animagus.

As Minerva was about to tell them off the Twins started chanting, "Minnie, Minnie, Minnie..."

"Look what you've done!" she scolded

"Minnie?" Harry said with a thoughtful look on his face, as if he was testing it out, before he grinned and stated, "I like it!"

Minerva groaned while the Twins and the remaining Marauders looked at him with pride.

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.**

"We have found her weakness, Gred!" Forge whispered to the fore mentioned Gred.

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by.**

"I always knew you were a weirdo, Remy." Sirius stated as if he had a disease - his response being a punch in the shoulder that was infused with a bit of werewolf strength.

**They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something... yes, that would be it.**

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

"What are these drills they keep speaking of?" Arthur finally burst out, looking as if he was refraining from asking the whole time, he continued, "and do they work with plugs?" He asked gleefully.

All those that knew about Arthur's obsession with muggle-ry **(Yes, I made that up.. I think) **smiled fondly at him before turning back to the room.

"How about you right down everything you don't know or need more information about, Mr Weasley, and if there's time when we have a break I'll try to explain as best I can." Hermione kindly offered.

Arthur's whole face lit up like a kid on Christmas. Some parchment, a quill and an ink well before the furious scratching of qt he quill on parchment was heard.

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime.**

Draco wanted to question why, but at the look his godfather was giving him he decided to keep quiet.

**Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road**

"What?"

**To buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

"Ah. Wait, just one?"

The pranksters in the room grinned. The teachers, all except Snape who sneered along side Draco, groaned a little, while the rest of the teens chuckled - not use to a funny, carefree Harry.

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their son, Harry" **

"Oh, it's that day." Harry said in a voice devoid of emotion which startled a few occupants of the room.

Realization dawned on everyone else's faces._ It was that day._

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead.**

"I wish." Harry muttered causing many to look at him oddly.

While Hermione tried to get Harry to elaborate on why he felt that way, Snape couldn't help but think,_'Potter is an arrogant, attention-seeking, ungrateful brat. Just like his father. People have taken him into their home and treat him like a prince and he wishes them dead - Probably didn't make his eggs like he wanted them!'_

Meanwhile, Minerva gave Dumbledore a glare that screamed _'He better been treat right there or you will be in a world of pain'_ which he tried in vain to look as if it didn't affect him.

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid.**

Harry laughed. "Step Three: Acceptance!"

Hermione, Tonks and everyone who understood the reference laughed, while others looked confused.

"Steps of what?" Draco asked some-what frustrated '_Why are these idiots laughing?!_', causing the laughter to increase.

Severus shook his sadly at his godson. '_He should just keep his mouth shut._'

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry.**

"He did not know your name, 'Arry?" Fleur asked with a face of displeasure that only the female population of France could pull off.

"I don't even know if he knows it now, to be frank." Harry responded quietly to the growls in the room.

**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that...**

'Lily should have pretended that she was an only child not you, Petunia!' Snape sneered mentally.

**but all the same, those people in cloaks...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry,"**

"He knows that word?" Gasped Ron.

"I'm surprised to." Commented Harry.

**He grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.**

**It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!" And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

"His arms fit?" Harry cried much to people's amusement.

"Maybe they made-"

"-a printing error-"

"-it probably was meant to say-"

"-the old man _TRIED_ to hug him!" They finished with grins.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

Minerva and the twins looked affronted. For different reasons, obviously.

For the twins without imagination many of their pranks would never have happened. Probably 99% of their entire arsenal.

Meanwhile, for Minerva the thought that no one could approve of imagination - when creativity was a big part of transfiguration - was absurd.

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

Many shuddered having received said look Numerous times.

**Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").**

"Oh so proud of the little tyke." Ron muttered sarcastically.

"Ronald!" Molly like always, scolded him.

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: "And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin.**

**"Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim." "Well, Ted,"**

"That's my daddy!" Tonks stated proudly with a grin.

**said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight." Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair.**

**Shooting stars all over Britain. Owls flying by daylight. Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place. And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...**

"He can put it together." Gasped Alicia.

"Well in all fairness it seems that the muggle knew about the magical world already." Katie supplied.

"True, he's not smart enough to figure it out without knowing." Angelina responded.

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

"That's horrible." Arthur commented.

"Yeah, I would never pretend Ginny didn't exist." Charlie commented, earning an appreciate smile from Ginny, who hadn't spoken since the first letter had arrived, "I couldn't - she's too annoying to ignore." He finished with a grin and a wink in her direction - defusing the tension, that was slowly building, somewhat.

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."**

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

**"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her crowd."**

Everyone growled.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"It's my nick name and it's better than Dudley!" Harry said in an indignant tone.

"Nickname?" Hermione questioned, she didn't know that and she knew a lot of things!

"Uhm yeah." He started uncomfortably, he could feel everyone's gaze on him, "When I went to primary school on the first day they called my full name for the register and I found out that I have a... er shall I say - more formal name."

"...and?" Tonks prompted

"What?"

"What's your full name?" Bill asked.

"Uh.. Well I don't think I want to tell you really."

"Come on, Harry!" Hermione tried, always the curious one - having to know as much as possible, but Harry stubbornly refused.

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed.**

**While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there.**

**It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**How very wrong he was.**

"He has to be use to that by now." Sirius grumbled while Remus nodded his head in agreement.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

"Someone's going to get in trouble!" Harry sang out.

"and it's not going to be us!" The twins added.

"For once" Many chorused. A few mockingly, one or two with anger, but mostly with a sad resigned sigh.

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots.**

**His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

People cheered much to Malfoy's disgust. _Cheering for the muggle-lover!_

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome**

"Oh, I knew." He stated but did not elaborate leaving the impression that he hadn't cared if he was unwelcome or not.

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**

"I want one!" The twins and the Golden Trio exclaimed simultaneously.

"NO!" Shouted the majority of the room causing pouts to appear on their faces. - Harry's however disappear quite fast when he noticed the Gryffindor chasers turn to him, he did not want his cheeks pinched again thank you very much.

**He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall." He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone.**

**Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

Several people looked at her in disbelief only to be met by her famous glare.

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly." **

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

"Nobody asked you to go there." Severus sneered. _Probably making sure that the muggles will be able to accommodate The Royal Brat's demands._

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here." Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently.**

**"You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"True, but he's a nice enough bloke." Harry commented.

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors." She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore."**

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

**"A what?"**

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name. All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."**

All but Harry, Remus, Sirius, Hermione and Dumbledore flinched.

**Professor McGonagall flinched.**

"Just a bloody name." Harry muttered under his breath.

**but Dumbledore, who was un-sticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

**"I know you haven't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."**

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

"I could 'ave lived my whole life wizzout knowing zat!" Fleur stated looking rather ill, while the rest of the young adults (Sirius believing that he is included in this category) turned a bit green - Tonks actually turned her skin green.

Dumbledore's cheeks had a slight pink coloring to them.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying. About why he's disappeared. About what finally stopped him." It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

"Meant to say - _Decided not to answer._"

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead. " Dumbledore bowed his head.**

Everyone bowed there heads in respect and a few sniffles were heard. A few looked at Harry who was staring intently at the wall opposite him blinking furiously.

Mrs Weasley got up and tried to hug him, but he didn't respond for he was really uncomfortable - first, he did not like physical contact that much and second, he was not fond of having his ribs crushed. Mr Weasley with the help of a few of their sons pried her off.

**Professor McGonagall gasped. "Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..."**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know..." he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"It's - it's true." faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy. It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive."**

"Wouldn't we like to know." Malfoy grumbled.

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles.**

**UDumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge.**

**It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way."**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places."**

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

**"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here." cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

"You should have tried harder." Harry's voice was muffled by the pillow that in the last few paragraphs he had stuffed his face into.

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A LETTER?!" Most females screeched red in the face.

**"A letter." repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter. These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future**

Harry, who had pulled his face out of the pillow so fast many were surprised he did not get whiplash, asked in small voice, "There isn't right?" He looked desperate.

"No, my boy." Dumbledore answered

Harry just nodded his head. Dumbledore wants to ignore me for the first few weeks of school but now he's speaking to me - Thats not how it works!

**- there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"**

Harry pulled a face.

_Just like his father. _Snape sneered mentally. While many thought '_Just like Lily - never did like attention_.'

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it."**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore." She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

People shivered at the thought.

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this."**

"There's many things you can trust Hagrid with - Just not your secrets." Harry stated to general agreement of the room. A few had fond smiles on their faces as they thought of all the things Hagrid let slip by accident.

**"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

"Yes, he's very loyal." Charlie stated. He was on good terms with Hogwarts' resident animal-lover.

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that."**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle."**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me.**

"My baby..." Sirius sighed wistfully

**I've got him, sir."**

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

The majority of the females cooed.

"I'll show you guys some photos when we get back - he was the cutest baby!"Sirius bragged while Harry groaned and blushed so red he could put the Weasleys to shame.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

"You where such an adorable baby." Minerva commented as the female cooed again, causing Harry to blush again and the boys of the room to coo mockingly.

**"Is that where -." whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore."**

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with." Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir." asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"I find that highly offensive and down right demeaning!" huffed a certain animagus.

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"If the motorcycle didn't wake them I doubt Hagrid would." Bill commented.**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep,**

This action alone had many grumbling and growling.

** took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"Well..."

"That sucks..." The troublesome twosome finished lamely.

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir." Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

"I assure you there were warming and protection charms on him." Dumbledore quickly tried to placate those that looked ready to hex him.

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured.**

**He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on**

"Aww..." Katie pinched his cheek.

**not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"**

"..and-who's-parents-didn't" Harry whispered at the exact moment the room became dead quiet.

Hermione and Molly looked as if they were about to open their mouths but were cut off by Remus, with a shake of his head, and Sirius, who plainly stated, "Don't." - He was going to talk to his pup soon to at least be there for him to grief if need be.

"How about we all go to bed. It's been a long day. We can start after breakfast tomorrow morning - please be down at eight o'clock." Dumbledore instructed.

A staircase appeared out of nowhere that led to a hall with various doors with names on it.

It seemed that people were paired up for a Room. Which had a common room that had doors presumably leading to the bedrooms, fully stocked with necessities, and a bathroom.

'Good nights' were murmured in between yawns before everyone retired to their rooms.

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**Groups are -**

**1) Three Chasers**

**2) Harry, Ron and Charlie**

**3) Mr & Mrs Weasley and Ginny**

**4) Bill and The Twins**

**5) Hermione, Fleur and Tonks**

**6) Remus and Sirius**

**7) Malfoy and Snape**

**8) McGonagall and Dumbledore**

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**THREE QUICK QUESTIONS: **

1. How should I go about Snape?

2. What do you think Harry's full name should be? (Ex. Harrison, Hadrian etc.) or should I go back and change it? It won't be used often only now and then during the reading.

3. Up until which books should I do the story? Please do take note that I have only read up until book 4 and a part of book 5, but I know mostly what happens in the other books.

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**Please review so I at least know if I'm doing something right or not. Any advice is appreciated.**


	2. Interlude 1 - Meet Your Future Wife

Total words: 3, 099

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**Female Percy's name:** Nikole Alexandra De La-mer

Meaning:

_Nikole_ from 'Nikoleta' which is from Greek origin meaning "victory of the people."  
_Alexandra_ from Greek origin meaning "defender of mankind."

Nickname: Nikki or Nyx - depending on the person, Close friends and family call her Nikki.

Her surname is change a little, It means of the sea in French (according to Google Translate) De La Mer but I changed it to De La-Mer (Pronounced Du-La-Mêr, the 'e' nice and long and a short 'r', imagine it in your head with a french accent - it helps) so it wouldn't be too long.

The name thing will be explained soon.

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French - underlined

_Ancient Greek_ - italics

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Molly Weasley was one of the first people in the vicinity to awaken. She immediately searched for the kitchen which she found behind a door on the right hand side of the living room. Once inside the kitchen she started on a breakfast that could probably feed a soccer team after practice, well with her children it could.

At around seven the people who were use to having to wake up for work, were up and about making fresh pots of coffee and tea. Eventually at eight the rest of the readers came down for pleasantries.

A few pleasantries were exchanged, but otherwise it was a quiet meal - which was odd when all the children were around. Most were thinking about finally finding out what happened, one or two wanting to be anywhere but there and a couple were worrying about the adults in room finding out about what they've done and one was detesting the entire thing.

When they were finished and the plates had been cleared a blinding blue light similar to that of which brought the books, appeared - prompting many to draw their wands to be prepared for the unknown.

When the light faded everyone looked around confused, for there was nothing nor was there anyone new in the room.

A few of the younger occupants started to relax somewhat, all except Harry. Out of nowhere a dark-haired figure fell from a portal-like hole in the roof that promptly disappeared. The figure seemed to work with the momentum of the fall and rolled onto their one shoulder before springing into a defensive position.

Only when the figure stopped moving could Harry see how the figure looked. It was definitely female.

She was an average height with her high-heeled shoes on. If she were to stand barefoot she'd be just below average height, but her body was obviously well exercised, because taut muscles in her tan arms and shapely legs could be seen - ready to attack if the need arises.

She had dark raven hair that had a dark purple tinge to it in the kitchen light. The figure must have been at a party or function of some sort, because she had a short cocktail dress on that did not help the hormonal teenage boys in the room. She had four-inch black peep toed heels on - one which appeared to have broken of at the heel. Harry felt that she was quite attractive, but he had yet to get a good look at her face to make sure.

"Merde!" The female cursed in french, "I liked these shoes!" a slightly french accented voice sounded out.

Dumbledore cleared his throat which had the female jump back into her defensive position with something that appeared to be a pen that came out of seemingly nowhere in her right hand and her left hand twitching as if to pull out another weapon. When her head snapped up Harry felt that he had just seen the most beautiful person to ever walk the earth. She had sea colored eyes - he didn't know if her eyes were a sparkling ocean of blue or a mint green color. Of what he could tell it was a perfect blend of both that stood out with the help of her sun kissed skin.

"Nikki?" A voice broke Harry out of his musing.

The attention was now brought to Katie, who had lowered her wand completely and who was staring at this 'Nikki', who had snapped her head up to look at Katie with wide surprised eyes, with a perplexed look.

"Katie?" 'Nikki' asked in the same french accent, before hastily clearing her throat and asking, "Katie Gardner?" This time with an American accent. '_Gardner?_' Was mumbled around the room in confusion.

"Sorry to interrupt, my dears but, who are you?" Dumbledore asked with his best grandfatherly voice.

"Nikole." She answered shortly, her american accent remaining, keeping her gaze on Katie.

"Y-You're a witch, right?" Katie asked, her voice hopefully._ 'Please let her be a witch I don't want to try my hand at memory spells and face the wrath of the council.'_

Nikole was so caught off guard that all she could do was nod. It took about three seconds for Katie to reach the other side of the kitchen and barreled into Nikole who stumbled dangerously on her broken shoe, but after a moment the embrace was returned just as tightly.

"What's going on?" Ron blurted out impatiently. Normally he would have been quickly reprimanded but everyone was just as curious. Ron's question was left unanswered.

After a moment of silence the ADHD making it seem longer Nikole asked, "Why am I here?" She looked around before continuing, "One moment I'm on a date and the next I swear I heard a voice say '_Sorry, mom.'_ And here I am."

Soft gasps were heard around the room - This was Harry Potter's future wife.

Harry felt his cheeks grow warm. He was going to marry this - this - _goddess _and unless she was a great actor he knew that he wouldn't marry someone who was just after his fame, but he wanted to get to know her first.

The boys and Sirius clapped a shell-shocked Harry on his back as congratulations.

Ginny and Molly Weasley were openly glaring at Nikole who was being asked something by Katie so she could not see everyone's reactions.

Nikole looked at everyone in the room and then turned to Katie and asked, "Do they know?"

Her answer was a negative, confusing everyone else.

"Can someone just get on with the blasted explanation!" Snape yelled

"Impatient much, Mr. Greasy." Which caused a couple of chuckles to escape from all those that disliked him, "Well they can't do anything to me now, they'll need me for something or other." She muttered to herself and Katie, who was looking quite nervous now.

"So..." Nikole clapped her hands together, "What do you know of Greek gods?"

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The whole room was silent. Everybody was trying to process what they have just been told.

"So your saying that the Greek gods exist?" Hermione asked

"And that you and our Katie-"

"-are children of these Greek gods?" The twins asked.

"They are very much alive and yes, we are."

"You go to a camp where you train, go on quests and _save the world?_" The last part was obviously said with disbelief.

After many questions had been answered and explained. Everyone proceeded to properly introduce themselves and got various reactions.

'Boy-Who-Lived? Huh, pictured you a little taller, but not bad.'

'Man that's awesome. If I had that ability I'd make myself taller.'

'Fleur, I haven't seen you since _Veille du Jour de l'An* _at the French ministry three years ago.'

"I guess I should introduce myself," Nikole before turning to give Katie an apologetic look, "I am Nikole Alexandra De La-Mer, daughter of Poseidon and Heiress to the Most Ancient and Noble House of De La-Mer."

The De La-Mer family was an influential family. They were classified as neutral by many, but history showed that they were Grey. Choosing the side which they thought were fighting for the right reasons. The Right side not the easy side.

Everybody was now seated in the living room talking among themselves, but keeping a close eye on the new reader and their conversation.

"So what's your real name then?" She asked Katie.

"Bell, Katherine Bell. Heiress and all that."

"Why'd you ask her for name, its apparent that you already know her?" Angelina asked

"Well like we told you earlier that the heart of the fire moves and the gods follow. At the moment that place is in America, but I honestly don't believe that the gods didn't just stay in America - well obviously they did not because I am french and Katie here is British. Of what I've figure by using the library on Olympus - Don't look at me like that Katie, I had to wait for Annabeth - is that when a god or goddess is in a err.. Sexual relationship with someone who is not just a mundane person the child will be a pure-breed of whatever the non-godly parent is. Gods technically do not have a specific DNA - it adapts to be its best.

For example, If a god had a child with a quarter-veela the child, if it is a girl would be a full veela and a powerful one at that or if the child is a boy it would be a powerful pureblood wizard. My mother is a pure blood witch and my father is the Sea god therefore I am a pureblood witch as well. It's basically like refreshing the bloodlines in a way - the children born are the purest of pure of whatever species they are. Understand so far?" She paused.

"That does make sense. I'm shocked" Katie replied with an amused smile which prompted a mature reaction from Nikole - she stuck out her tongue.

"Anyway, because we are so powerful our godly parents make us hide our true identities when we go to camp, because the council do not want our enemies to know of our power. We are not allowed to tell non-magicals what we are and if you want to tell a fellow demigod you have to appeal to the Olympian council to get permission and you must have a very air tight case. Think of it as the godly equivalent of the Muggle Protection Program. We are given aliases to help us blend in, because many children's non-godly family are well-known - gods are attracted to powerful people be it money, fame, political pull or just well-known beauty. "

"By the way why are we here?" Nikole asked after everyone seemed to have digested what she explained to them.

"Well Miss De La-Mer, we are reading about the past, present and future of Mr Potter." Dumbledore told her.

"But why am I here?" She asked, before hastily adding, "I mean don't get me wrong it would be a nice experience to get to know him, but..." She trailed of.

"Well here you go." Remus told her whilst reaching for the letter they received when they appeared in the room, "We got this letter explaining what's going on."

As she was getting up to take the letter a panicked Harry strode to Remus and quickly took the letter, which he crumpled up and hurriedly stated to Nikole, who was giving him a perplexed look, "The letter is pretty basic - just stating that we're reading about my life. Apparently ou- er... _my_ future children sent all of us and the books here. Maybe you were sent here to help in the war that's brewing. You'd definitely be a surprise to the dark side." Harry explained nervously, stumbling over his words a little while ending with a nervous little chuckle.

Nobody tried to contradict what Harry was saying, although it did look like Ron wanted to but a quick elbow to the ribs stopped him and it was surprising that Malfoy didn't try but it seemed that his gaze was transfixed on Nikole. When Harry's friends caught his gaze, they gave him questioning looks to which he mouthed '_Later!_'.

"There's no point in reading now - it's almost time for lunch so it's no use in starting a new chapter where the men will be complaining about food." McGonagall stated while looking at her pocket watch.

Molly, taking some time out of her Glaring-at-Nikole-Time, spoke up, "I'll get started on lunch." She made her way to the kitchen with Ginny stomping after her.

"Uh... Where can I get a change of clothes?" Nikole asked Katie quietly.

"Oh, maybe there's a room upstairs for you." Katie told her whilst standing up and beckoning her forward, "By the way, earlier on you said you were on a date, with who?" Katie asked while looking at Harry, who was trying to look uninterested.

"Matt Lamote, from cabin seven."

"No way." Katie exclaimed stopping in front of the door that led out of the living room, completely forgetting about Harry. "Hottie Lamottie with the swimmers body?"

Making Harry's shoulders slump. How was he supposed to compete with that. Sure he wasn't as skinny as he was before and he did have a nice fit and muscular frame from quidditch, but it wasn't anything spectacular. He didn't have a cool nickname for his muscles. _Maybe Harry the muscled... er... Damn it! I keep thinking fairy and Harry Potter is _not_ a fairy even if it's a muscled fairy. Off track there, Harry. Far off track._

"Yeah, but it was so boring." Nikole drawled in a lazy tone, "All he did was talk about himself and when he finally asked me something he asked '_So my cabin or yours_?'. I was so close to making sure he can't reproduce when time sort of slow down and then stopped all together for about three seconds and then I swear I heard '_Sorry, mom_.' And before could react there was a blinding light and well, here I am."

Harry breathed out in relief, _There's almost no way that this _Mike_** guy could every recover from what he did!_

"Are you two coming?" Nikole asked the remaining two chasers, "It'd be great to get to know my cousin's real friends, not some modified version of a soccer team and a high school drama." she told them with a friendly smile.

As soon as they were out of the room all Harry's friends surrounded him.

"Why didn't you tell her the truth?" Ron asked

"I want to get to know her first." He stated, the other boys gave him incredulous looks, "Look, I need someone who wants me, just Harry, not the Boy-Who-Lived. Besides I want her to like me on her own, I don't want her to feel obligated to like me because we're married in the future or for our future children either."

"That's very mature of you, Harry. You are going to tell her though, aren't you?" Hermione asked

"Yes, but maybe at around the second or third book, what do you think?" He asked worriedly.

"I guess, but don't keep it from her-"

"-you don't want an angry woman on your case!" The twins told him, for once, seriously.

"Why would Harry have an angry woman on his case?" Angelina asked having heard the end of the conversation when they came back into the room.

"Nothing." All the boys chorused while Hermione huffed and rolled her eyes.

"So, where are you sleeping?" Hermione asked a bit hopefully. The rant Tonks and her had to endure the night before was probably going to be nothing compared to the one they would experience that night. Ginny was going to go ballistic, but maybe if Nikole shared a room with them Ginny would have more tact than Ron and not mention anything.

Nikole, who had changed into a loose blue shirt and black yoga pants and only black socks, replied "With Katie, Angelina and Alicia." Causing Hermione's shoulders to slump a fraction that, luckily, went unnoticed.

"Lunch is ready." Tonks exclaimed brightly almost tripping on the living rooms carpet.

As everyone was eating there was laughter and chatter going around.

"Nikole?" Hermione asked tentatively, frankly the girl intimidated her a little.

"You can call me Nyx - if you want." Nyx told her with a friendly smile, easing her a bit.

"You explained earlier how the children of the gods that are born from non-godly parents are full-breeds and seeing that the gods do not have DNA, I was wondering if, for example: er... Lord Zeus had a relationship with a daughter of... Say... Apollo, would their child be a full god?"

"No, that's the exception to the rule. The child would mostly likely be three-quarter god and a quarter mortal, but it does not happen very often."

"Huh." Leaving Hermione with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Miss Da La-Mer, would you like to read the first chapter quickly before we continue?" Dumbledore asked kindly.

"Oh no, you don't have to worry about that, sir. The girls filled me in while I was getting dressed."

"Lovely. Well lets move back to the living room." He suggested.

"I might as well read." Remus offered.

**CHAPTER TWO - The Vanishing Glass**

"Ooh, accidental magic." Tonks grinned while her hair turned a shocking pink.

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_*New Years Eve._

_** Deliberately got the name wrong - some guys do this._

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First story alert: Lady Leaf8

First favorite: lefty123

First reviewer: Midnight Alwas

Harry's formal name suggestions: (continuing)

Harrison - 5

Harold - 5

Hadrian - 6

Hadesian - 2

Harlo - 1

Harlynn - 1

Harcourt - 1

Haresh - 1

Hercules - 1 _(a bit skeptical about this one because of the whole Hercules and Zoe thing, but if in the end the majority of you guys and girls want it, what can I do?)_

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**Thanks to everyone who reviewed.**

**Special thanks to StellaHunterOfArtemis. She helped me figure out a few things and helped with decisions. If you enjoy reading Percy Jackson or Harry Potter stories you could check out her profile.**

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**Please Review, I will try to update faster but at this point I am doing everything on my iPad, which my brother thinks is both of ours when in fact I got it for my birthday.**

**PS. Finally got around to putting a proper avatar on of myself.**


	3. The Vanishing Glass

**Posted:** 7 January 2013

**Total words:** 7, 103 - not an overly long chapter.

**UNBETA'd**

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**_ATTENTION_**: I feel that I should tell you that I am going back to school for my matric/ senior/ final year on the 9th of January and will only get to work on the story at night, because our school has extra lessons for most classes and my university Mathis classes would be starting again soon.

I know this first few weeks are going to be rough. Our school, the oldest in our town, is amalgamating with another school and this is the first year so trot everything is completely hashed out yet. Luckily, they are trying not to involve On my way! Year that much because they feel we should focus on our studies.

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**_Thank you to everyone that reviewed and voted_**

Answers to some questions:

I don't think I am going to bring in more PJO characters, they will be mentioned but not shown UNLESS a whole bunch of you vote that I must, but then you must say who you want, when and what you feel their position should be

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**_Previously:_**

**_CHAPTER TWO - The Vanishing Glass_**

_"Ooh, accidental magic." Tonks grinned._

* * *

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all.**

"Boring." Bill and Charlie chorused.

**The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed.**

**Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bonnets.**

Ginny, who was still upset, couldn't help but gag which caused people to laugh.

Charlie bumped his younger sister's shoulder with his own while giving her a small smile. _Everything's was going to be fine._

**- but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother.**

**The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

"What?" everyone chorused.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

**"Up! Get up! Now!" Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

**"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"That's a great memory you have, Mr. Potter." stated McGonagall. Many nodding their heads in agreement.

**His aunt was back outside the door. "Are you up yet." she demanded.**

**"Nearly," said Harry.**

**"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday." Harry groaned.**

**"What did you say." his aunt snapped through the door.**

"He didn't." Nikole snapped, thinking about how Smelly Gabe use to treat her.

**"Nothing, nothing..." Dudley's birthday - how could he have forgotten. Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider**

Ron grumbled under his breath, only a few snatches being heard, "Innocent kid... teddy bear... didn't see... coming... giant... hairy... traumatized."

"Uh, well we don't do this often-"

"- but, er... we're sorry, Ron." The twins told him sheepishly.

Ron was shocked, but gave them a thankful smile. It wasn't often that they apologized to each other without their mother breathing down their necks to apologize.

**off one of them, put them on.**

**Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

The everyone in the room froze as Harry buried his head into the pillow.

"ALBUS! You said he'd be safe, He will not go back." Mcgonagall raged.

"The wards-" He started, but was cut off.

"I could give a rat's arse about the wards!" Sirius yelled, "He will not be going back to that place And. That. Is. Final!" He finished looking like the Black he was born to be.

"Come now, Sirius-"

"NO!" He retaliated, "You are his headmaster! You have no say whatsoever. I should have done this after his third year, but that was before I knew how bad he was treated. I am finish discussing this. He will not be going back there. Case closed." McGonagall nodded in agreement with him, proud of her lion.

Hermione and Ron were asking a non-responsive Harry about why he didn't tell them and that've should of told them. Finally Harry couldn't take it anymore. He through his pillow down and stood up catching everyone's attention.

"Why?!" It was a rhetorical question, "Why would I tell you? You'd want to know what happened, what they did. After I took such a long time to forget you'd make me remember, you'd try to get me to talk about it - I don't want to talk about it! What could you do if I told you? You couldn't change it. You would be careful around me. You'd treat me differently." He paused to catch his breath. Everyone was silent, they had never heard him speak like this.

"You would pity me. I can't do anything with pity and it wouldn't have changed a thing." He was breathing hard. He shook his head before storming out of the room leaving many speechless.

Hermione's lip was trembling and Ron's face was completely white, his eyes wide and unseeing.

Severus Snape was very confused. _Potter was... treated just like me - worse than me! But for all he knew it could be an act to gain more attention. Yes, yes that's it. That explains it all._

Draco Malfoy was shocked beyond belief. '_Potter the spoiled prat, wasn't spoiled. In fact he was the complete opposite_.'

After a few seconds Hermione started to get up.

"Don't." Nikole spoke quietly.

"He's my friend - I have to go check up on him." She stated angrily.

"And then what? You're just going to do what he doesn't want you to, he'll push you further away. Let him cool down and he'll come back on his own time. When he's ready to speak he will come to you - don't force him." She responded.

"How do you know all that like you were abused yourself?" Asked Ron, oh so tactfully.

She just gave him a small sad smile before looking down at her lap. His mouth forming a small 'o'.

Many gave looks of pity before realizing what they were doing. Hermione hit him as hard as she could. Katie patted her on her back, but left it at that. Nikki hated pity.

After a few minutes Remus started to read, his voice noticeably trembling.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

Arthur half-heartedly added more things to his list.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise - unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

The more animalistic people in the room growled knowing what was coming.

**Dudley's favourite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

"Youngest seeker." The twins sang together making a few people's lips twitch but the tension still hung in the air.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.**

"His father was the same way." Remus stated

"He started filling out in fifth year and by the looks of it Harry has started." Sirius added with a wiggle of his eyebrows in the direction of the girls in the room causing a few giggles and blushes.

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was.**

**Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair,**

"Like his father." Many mumbled.

**and bright green eyes.**

"Lily." was muttered.

'_Oh, Lily._' Snape thought longingly.

"He doesn't just 'ave his mozzer's eyes." Fleur commented "I have seen photo's of Lily Potter - she was- er... très belle (very beautiful). He has her high cheek bones and nose."

"I'm sure he would love to hear that." Bill told her with a smile while wrapping his arm around her. Mrs Weasley scowled at them - or more specifically at the french veela.

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.**

"Let me punch him." Sirius snarled

"We can't. If you get yourself sent back to Azkaban Harry would not be happy." Remus stated with a strained voice. His wolf was howling to be released and make those despicable people pay for harming his cub.

**The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.**

"He actually likes it, I got the impression he hated it." Charlie asked confused.

"I don't think he knew what it symbolized." Hermione offered, her voice was small and timid. '_Why didn't I see it?'_

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember ****asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

**"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said.**

"What, that's an outrage!"

"A car crash kill Lily and James Potter? As if!"

"A bunch off hogwash!"

**"And don't ask questions."**

"That could explain why he never asks for help when it's obvious he doesn't understand something completely." McGonagall stated.

"He doesn't understand anything, because he is stupid!" Snape ranted "He never asks because he is just as arrogant as his father - thinking that he doesn't need help, that he could do it by himself!"

"_Snivellous_!" Sirius sneered "James was of the top five of our class - every single year and where were you? With the other little Death Nibbler's! You only excelled in DADA and Potions and that was because you have an unhealthy obsession with the two. Harry is a smart boy, but maybe because he has some teachers like _you_ that actually don't teach anything but inflict fear and hatred in the heart of the students that he can't reach his full potential."

They were both about to go on but found themselves bound and silenced by Dumbledore.

"Mr Potter is one of our top students." Dumbledore added, "Carry on, Remus."

**Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

**"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

"Never going to happen!" Was chorused by all around the room.

"It can't be that bad can it." Stated Nyx.

"No it's pretty bad. In the second task of the tri-wizard tournament his hair was completely soaked with water and it did not lay flat at all." Ron explained

"I bet I can get his hair to lay flat on his head and to be combed."

"You are so on, but something like this needs to have a reward for the winner." Ron stated gleefully.

"Okay, but whose in?" Nyx asked excitedly, she loved a good bet or dare. "We need to workout the reward and requirements."

"We're in." The twins and Charlie chorused

"We will have to ask Harry if we can, but we'll discuss this later because Mr. Greasy is glaring again." Nyx stated

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way - all over the place.**

"That's a good way to describes it." said Tonks.

'_I think is going to be harder than I thought, unless...'_ Nyx was formulating a plan that would help her win. She admitted that she was competitive, but only to an extent.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel - Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

Everyone burst out laughing.

"Maybe we should ask Harry to come pranking with us." The twins pondered.

"NO!"

Sirius was a little put out by not being able to shout 'YES!', but figured he would get Harry alone sometime and give him the _The Maruader's Books of classical and not so classical pranks_. Why did they give it such a long name?

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

"Even I don't get that many." Malfoy whispered to himself.

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, its here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."**

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face.**

**Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

"Good don't waste your food, Harry" Ron stated with a serious expression on his face a few boys nodding in agreement receiving exasperated looks from the women.

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin. Two more presents. Is that all right''**

"No, that is not all right!" Molly screeched

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."**

"I would have lost it by now." Katie murmurred

"Then you should know I would have lost it along time ago." Nyx replied

"Yes, the only time you have patience is when you have take care of the Demigods who are brought to camp as a baby."

"But they're so cute!"

Everyone was watching with fond smiles. The two cousins seemed more like sisters than anything else.

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

"I can't believe he encourages that!" Hermione commented, speaking properly for the first time in awhile.

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control air plane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR.**

Arthur's list grew considerably.

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

"He can hear you know." Ginny and Nyx growled quietly. Ginny because of her feelings for Harry and Nyx because she had that happen to her too.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

"I don't like cats." Nyx crinkled her nose "Dogs are better."

"I like you!" Sirius stated happily.

"Uh... okay." She replied her voice wrapped with confusion, not knowing that he was a dog animagus.

**"Now what." said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this.**

"Yes, that has been his evil plan all this time." Charlie deadpanned.

**Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

"That is extremely rude." Mrs Weasley said sternly "I will have to have a stern talking to with him later on!"

"Why would you do that, you aren't his mother?" Asked Nyx, many looking at her wide-eyed, few have ever stood up to Molly Weasley.

"_Nikole_." Katie hissed, '_Why did she have to open her mouth now!_'

"What?! She's been glaring at me as if I kicked her grandma, since I got here - she doesn't even know me! Why should I try to be nice when she looks as if the first chance she gets she's going to clobber me with something! I haven't let bitches run over me before and I'd be damned if I start now!"

Sirius was laughing his bark like laughter and Fleur's bell like giggling couple be heard. Sirius having been forced to learn many different languages to be a future lord as a child. He understood her quite well.

"Thank you so much! You have idea how much I wanted to say something like that." Sirius grinned.

"Oui!" The older french girl grinned

Molly was still fuming, '_How dare that french tramp speak to me like that?! I told Arthur that all french people were horrible, now two french tramps were trying to take away my children!_'

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

"Of what I've heard the feelings mutual." Arthur spoke quietly, but it was enough for his son's roared in laughter. _That's their dad!_

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there - or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

More growls

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend - Yvonne."**

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

**"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

"Sorry, Harry, not gonna happen." Tonks said shaking her head.

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. "And come back and find the house in ruins." she snarled.**

**"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

**"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "...and leave him in the car..."**

"He's not a dog." Hermione huffed then she heard an animalistic growl from Sirius, it seems that the spells were starting to wear off.

**"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone..."**

"Yes worry about the car not our brother." Angelina snarled her fellow chasers voicing their agreement. Nyx didn't comment because... Well-... '_He's too good looking to be considered a brother._'

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

**"Dinky Duddydums,**

Laughs echoed around the room.

"I'd rather be hugged my mummy dearest before being called that." Sirius added, the silence charming having faded, but the binding spell was still in place from his neck and below.

**don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

**"I... don't... want... him... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp- spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

**Just then, the doorbell rang - "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically - and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

"A real friend wouldn't mind. They'd help you to the best of their abilities." Said Katie, who nudged Nyx slightly.

"Yeah, Grover tries really hard to make you feel better." Nyx responded, knowing that Katie meant her, but she didn't notice when she did it, she only found out because Nico told her.

"Vlacas*." Katie sighed out exasperated from beneath her hand which was on her head due to a well orchestrated face-palm.

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

**"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

"That's barbaric!"

**"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly."**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

"Ooh!" Tonks squealed, receiving amused looks and a well-hidden smile from Remus. '_She was so adorable!_'

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

"Do you think Harry might be a metamorphagus, or at least a part one?" Tonks asked with barely contained concealment.

"We will have to test that later, Tonksie." Sirius ignored her outraged look, "he does have Black blood in him."

Draco looked panicked at this, '_Potter has Black blood in him, he could try and claim the Black house when he is of age. Father will hear of this!_'

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls) –**

"Woman has horrible taste." Nyx grumbled from her place next to Katie.

"Not everyone loves clothes like you do, Nikki." Katie sighed exasperated.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, she knew that Harry hoped she wasn't one of those girls who only wanted to shop, spending thousands at a time.

"I don't go crazy like some girls, but I like having nice clothes. It doesn't have to be fancy or anything just stylish and... Well, _me_. When I shop I try to be as fast as possible."

"She mostly buys stuff for us." Katie told Hermione.

"Oh, okay." She replied feeling somewhat relieved, but she had to observe the girl a bit more before she could fully approve of her.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney.**

"He apparated?!"

"I think he flew." Seeing the incredulous looks Remus continued, "Lily told me that she used to fly when she jumped of the swings at the local park."

'_Oh Lily, it was so simple back then._' Severus mourned.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid- jump.**

People snorted

"He's not that skinny!"

"Well, when you don't know what is going on with you, your mind tries to make sense of what happened and having grown up in a house were imagination was frowned upon he probably tried to come up with the most logically explanation." Hermione lectured.

"Well said Miss Granger." Dumbledore told her, the twinkles appearing in his eyes for the first time since Harry stormed out of the room.

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.**

**"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

**"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

Insert groans, moans and face-palms of disapproval. Not that you get face-palms of approval.

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and ****yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a moustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream." But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon - they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

The twins grinned evilly and looked at Katie and Nyx. Of what the two cousins explained they occasionally had to live in the muggle world for an extended period of time to keep up pretenses among their fellow half-godlings.

Katie shook her head at them and turned to Remus. '_There was no way in hades that she was going to help them with their pranks!_'

Nyx just looked at them with a bored expression for a few seconds before she shrugged and turning to Remus.

The twins grinned each other, '_She definitely has our approval._'

"You don't perchance have any sisters, do you?" The twins asked, before quailing under Angelina and Alicia's glares. "Never mind." They gulped.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop.**

"They are quite nice - not so sugary." said Hermione exclaimed having grown up with dentists for parents.

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

"Don't insult the gorilla." Sirius scolded mockingly

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"Harry's luck." Hermione and Ron said at the same time Sirius and Remus said, "Potter's luck."

"What?"

"Well you see..."

"Shouldn't you wait to tell Harry, it's about his family - he'd probably love to hear it from you two not everyone else here." Nyx commented as nicely as she could.

"Good point."

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

**"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself - no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house. The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

"Snakes can't wink! They haven't got any eyelids!" Hermione stated sounding conflicted. She read that snakes don't have eyelids, but here was a book that said a snake winked and books don't lie!

"Are you sure, Hermione?" Fred asked with voice that was supposed to sound mysterious, but failed epically.

"Are you dead sure?" George asked in the same tone as voice as his twin and failing just as spectacularly.

"Of course I... Am?"

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He ****looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

"Only Harry."

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time.**

**"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

**"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

"It's amazing how he finds none of this odd - at all!" remarked Alicia fondly

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

**"Was it nice there?" The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo.**

**"Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil."**

"Uh... Thats a nice snake?" Nyx said with uncertainty, her statement ending in a question.

"I don't think any of us have a comment really." Tonks told her. "I've never met a _nice_ snake." It was obvious she meant Slytherins.

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump.**

**"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

**"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs.**

"Urgh!" Nyx continued "Having to read this and not being able to do anything about it, it's frustrating!" She rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"At least we know that he turned out all right." Arthur commented quietly.

"He turned out more than all right. Of the few hours I've known him he's been nicer and more well behaved than ninety-percent of the boys I know. It's a miracle, really. - that he could be so nice at all" Nyx commented.

'_Huh, so that's probably how he got a bird like her... Being nice and well-behaved._' Ron thought, '_I'm nice... Just look at how Hermione is always around us - because she enjoys being around my nice attitude._' Maybe when falling into the room the previous night he bumped his head very hard and on a side-note he is probably delusional.

**Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

Not missing a beat a "Ooh!" Was heard from Tonks.

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

There where howls of laughter and looks of pure shock, that is incredible magic.

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo."**

"At least it was polite."

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

**"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry."**

"Ratfaced little boy." Katie looked shocked at this, Nikki doesn't usually sneer. She had no idea what she was saying, but the sneer would put Snape to shame - yet it was still quite ladylike. Well it should be, Heiress' usually were coached from young to be ladylike at all times, but they knew when to just relax and be a normal human being.

Nyx couldn't help but feel a little protective off Harry, they just had somethings in common but we're opposites in some aspects. Like he was one of the shyest boys she knew where as she was outgoing. She observed that when he becomes comfortable around people he'll open a little but you shouldn't push him.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was ****so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go - cupboard - stay - no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

Everyone was fuming.

"That's it he is meeting a werewolf this full moon." Remus growled.

"... And Mrs. O'Leary?" Katie asked Nikki.

"Yes... Maybe... And we can talk to Uncle H about lending a few... Er pet's." She looked thoughtful and a little scary with the look in her eyes. She ignored everyone's a questions about who Mrs O'Leary was.

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

'_Explains why he's never caught._' Snape told himself with a sneer.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

"Oh Harry." Several people said in sympathy.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

"We could all get photos and copies of memories to give to him for his next birthday." Remus suggested.

There was an agreement around the room and promises to ask their parents who went to school with his parents.

"Be sure to cut Pettigrew out of the photos, please." Sirius growled.

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley.**

"Daedalus Diggle." Sighed McGonagall tiredly.

**After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

"That's nice." Tonks muttered sarcastically.

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

Many growled.

"That's the end of the chapter, who's next?"

"I will." came a voice from the living room door.

* * *

Harry's formal name suggestions: (continuing)

**[You may vote more than once but if you review and say 'Hadrian, Hadrian, Hadrian etc.' twenty times it will count as one vote]**

Harrison - 5

Harold - 5

Hadrian - 8

Hadesian - 2

Harlo - 1

Harlynn - 1

Harcourt - 1

Haresh - 1

Hercules - 1 _(a bit skeptical about this one because of the whole Hercules and Zoe thing, but if in the end the majority of you guys and girls want it, what can I do?)_

* * *

**Questions**

1. How do you want Dumbledore to be - manipulative, good but human, just good, bashed etc?

2. When should Nikole find out what her roll is in the future? Ex. When one of their children show up (a younger one, like 3 years old) yells 'Mommy!' Runs to her and when she asks who the dad is points to Harry or after the bet about his hair (have that worked out) he feels that she should know or he likes her etc. you can come up with your own ideas

3. What do you want me to do with Malfoy?

* * *

Please review.


	4. Letters From No One

**Posted: **16 January 2013

**UNBETA'd**

**Total words: **6, 404

* * *

**Sorry, that you guys had to wait longer than usual but I am so busy with school. When I finally get home in the afternoons I do tons of homework, I eat, shower and go to sleep.**

**Thank you all for reviewing and voting, please review again!**

**_Previously:_**

_"That's the end of the chapter, who's next?"_

_"I will." came a voice from the living room door._

* * *

Everyone turned to look at Harry who was standing in the doorway with a sheepish expression on his face, but he still avoided everyone's eyes.

"Sure here you go, Harry." Remus stated in his soft spoken voice.

Harry gingerly accepted the book and sat next to Tonks, who crossed her legs underneath her and made her hair a cheery yellow.

Harry cleared his throat softly.

**CHAPTER THREE - THE LETTERS FROM NO ONE.**

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started**

"Awhile back you said his birthday was in April." Hermione said, trying to get Harry to react, but Harry carried on reading.

Although Harry did not react the adults', who cared deeply for him, faces darkened considerably while his friends had no idea how to react to the unexpected news.

**and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

"Ugh... He makes Clarisse seem like an angel." Nyx groaned while throwing her arm over her eyes.

Katie laughed, "You guys really have the weirdest friendships-slash-enemies-thing going on. All because she tried to initiate you when you first came to camp and called you a boy."

"I don't like being called a boy." She whined, "I had long hair, my body had already started to develop!" Harry, who was smiling at how cute she looked, blushed at her last statement.

"You didn't have to ask her to go get ready for the day first because her post-sleeping state was distracting and should not be witnessed in public!"

"So?"

"She had already gotten ready for the day!" Katie stated exasperated.

"I was cranky. I had just found out about what my mother could never tell me and that I couldn't even be who I was - well not completely. I also found out why we had to go to Smelly Gabe every few months." Nikole turned her body towards Harry and smiled at him encouragingly to continue reading.

He returned it with a small smile of his own.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.**

"That's like Malfoy's gang with Crabbe as the leader." Ron said in an attempt to get a reaction from his best friend, whose lips quirked upwards.

A few people laughed besides the professors and Malfoy. Those that didn't know who Crabbe was looked confused, but figured that they would find out as the story progressed.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.**

Remus growled and Sirius snarled.

Nyx was watching the headmaster, '_He's not reacting, as if this news isn't new at all. It's as if he already knew. I don't trust him, not yet at least - I shall have to keep an eye on him._'

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to**

**"**Hogwarts!"

**Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

**"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice."**

**"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it - it might be sick."**

"You have your mother's wit." Snape murmured so quietly that only Harry and those on the couch with him could hear.

Harry was confused, '_Did he know my mother in some way? No, it can't be - my mom wouldn't be friends with someone like him, they probably argued a lot like Malfoy and I do. Yes, that's it_.'

**Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

"Still don't think he knows."

"That was very Slytherins of you Potter."

"From you Malfoy I'll take that as a compliment."

"It wasn't one." He tried to snarl but on his boyish face it just did not work as well as he thought.

"So you think being a Slytherin is a disgrace too?" Harry asked, he knew that he could easily of been a Slytherin, but he couldn't help but provoke Malfoy.

'_Now that was Sytherin of him._' Snape thought, surprising himself.

"Wait until my father hears about this!"

"Yes, go running to your daddy. Why are you so independent on your father? It sounds more like an overly attached boyfriend if anything else." Harry told him, never raising his voice at all.

"Yes!... no... Wait... Er!"

"And here I thought incest was illegal." Nyx remarked dryly.

Many were howling with laughter and some could not help but notice how Nikole had the same type of humor has Harry.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.**

Remus sounded like a wounded puppy. Tonks grinned at him and proceeded to think of various chocolate bars, muggle and wizard.

The sweets fell onto Remus' lap. His face changed into that of a young kid who found out that Christmas was coming early.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats,**

A few looked sick.

**orange knickerbockers,**

And more

**and flat straw hats called boaters.**

Cue laughter.

**They also carried knobby sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"What!"

"Well it's not the most conventional way, but it's almost like us kids at Hogwarts. When there's no teacher present we send minor hexes at each other in the hallways- though some of us, a mostly of slytherins don't understand the concept of 'minor'." Said Bill to the surprised looks of the teachers, which turned into disapproving looks.

"Traitor." The twins hissed good naturedly.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins,**

The twins where howling with laughter, but they stopped abruptly with identical looks of horror on their faces.

"We will never-"

"-ever call you-"

"-'Ickle Ronnikins' ever again!" They vowed to the youngest male Weasley.

**he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**

Harry chuckled quietly. He wasn't going to laugh loudly about that now, although it was funny - it was five years ago and he didn't want to draw attention to himself which was redundant when you're the one reading the book out loud.

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

**"Your new school uniform," she said.**

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

**"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

"Sarcasm doesn't work on her." Snape muttered quietly.

Harry looked freaked out. '_I understand my mum, because they went to Hogwarts together, but my aunt Petunia?!_'

**"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dying some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

"Yes and if I strap some feathers on my back I'll be able to fly." Nyx deadpanned.

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High - like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

The animalistic people in the room growled, snarled and hissed.

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

"He carried it... _everywhere_?" Alicia asked with her nose crinkled.

"Everywhere." Harry confirmed.

"Eww..." Angelina and Katie whined.

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.**

**"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"What?"

**"Make Harry get it."**

**"Get the mail, Harry."**

"Ah."

**"Make Dudley get it."**

**"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

"Worst. Father. Ever!" Nyx muttered into her arm, which had found its place back across her face.

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and - a letter for Harry.**

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would?**

A few awkward coughs were heard around the room.

Harry's face jerked up, momentarily forgetting of his efforts to avoid a confrontation with his friends, in horror with an expression that screamed '_Tell me it's not true!_'

His only reply was blushes, sheepish expressions or some who would not meet his gaze at all.

**He had no friends, no other relatives - he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs**

**4 Privet Drive**

**Little Whinging Surrey**

"How did that not ring any warning bells?" Nyx asked with an edge to her voice.

"I don't know, I write the original letter and Albus takes care of the sending." McGonagall replied with a stern look towards Dumbledore, who went hard of hearing.

When seeing that Harry, who seemed just as curious about it, wasn't going to carry on reading Dumbledore sighed and answered vaguely, "The letters are copied and are addressed by a self-adressing quill."

Harry sighed softly.

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.**

"Stamp?" Draco asked before he could stop himself.

Mr. Weasley could be seen adding it to his extensive list.

"I'll explain it to you later when I explain it to Mr. Weasley." Hermione offered unsurely before sighing and silently adding, "_Again_."

Harry carried on reading with a small smile. He was thinking about when the Weasleys sent an envelope covered with stamps before fourth year asking if he could join them at the Quidditch World Cup. _That had been hilarious!_

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion,**

"Gryffindor!"

**an eagle,**

"Ravenclaw!"

**a badger,**

"Hufflepuff!"

**and a snake**

"Slytherin!" Draco yelled.

Severus sighed. How did his godson end up in Slytherin if he acted like this.

**surrounding a large letter H.**

"Hogwarts!"

**"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs." He chuckled at his own joke.**

Fred and George made choking noises, their eyes wide with disbelief.

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**.

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.**

**"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk. -."**

**"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

"Tattle tale." Muttered Ginny.

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

**"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

**"Who'd be writing to you." sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.**

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

"Overreacting."

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

"Oh My Freakin' Poseidon! They're acting as if you just got an invitation from the queen." Nyx stated exasperated.

**"Vernon! Oh my goodness - Vernon!"**

"The images-"

"-they burn!" The twins yelled while pretending to claw at their eyes.

"Honestly, you two!" Molly reprimanded them while turning red with, to her, justified anger, "That is no way for young children to act."

"They are of age, mom." Bill told her.

"Yeah, they could be classified as young adults or at least young men besides they could have said a whole lot of things are by far the worst." Charlie added.

For once the two oldest of the redhaired clan did not quell under their mother's glare.

** They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

"Let me tap his head." Alicia stated.

"Ah, come on. That was weak." Fred groaned.

"...through his arse." She finished venomously.

"Never mind." Squeaked George.

**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

"**I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine."**

"The famous Harry Potter temper!" Tonks grinned.

Harry grinned sheepishly. The summer before school he was quite angry with Ron and Hermione and it wasn't his intention to blow up like that nor was it earlier today.

**"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move.**

**"I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

"There's another thing you have in common with your mother. Her temper was legendary and very, _very_ scary." Sirius stated the last part with a small scared voice before shuddering as if he was reliving a distant memory.

**"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.**

**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

"If Moody was here he would be yelling something about adapting." Tonks muttered absent-mindedly.

**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address - how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

**"Watching - spying - might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

"We've got better things to do." Draco sneered.

**"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want -" Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer... Yes, that's best... we won't do anything...**

**"But -"**

**"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense."**

Dumbledore's eyes flashed dangerously. He didn't know that they tried _that. _He will be paying the Dursley's a visit soon. '_That was not part of the agreement._'

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

**"Where's my letter," said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**

**"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."**

"He burnt it?" Katie asked shocked

"Y-Yes." Harry answered tentatively

"How could he do that?!"

"What going on?" A confused Harry asked.

"You see a child's acceptance letter to a school is a big thing in the wizardry world." Nyx started to explain, "Many parents frame their children's letters. It symbolizes that their child has enough magic in their magical core to be accepted by a wizardry school. It's physical proof that the child is not a squib or a weak magic-wielder."

**"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

"Oh honey, you shouldn't of thought of it as your cupboard." Tonks told him caringly causing Harry to flush slightly.

He cleared his throat slightly.

**"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

**"Er - yes, Harry - about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking... you're really getting a bit big for it... we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom.**

"Second bedroom!"

**"Why?" said Harry.**

**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom.**

"I - Those - Brat - Horrible - Spoilt - Believe -" Hermione was so angry she couldn't even form a proper sentence, which was shocking in itself. Their house had _four_ bedrooms yet they made their own flesh and blood sleep in a cupboard!

**It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbour's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favourite program had been cancelled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

"If he can't count how can he read?" Angelina wondered.

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't want him in there... I need that room... make him get out..."**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

"I take that back, getting my letter was the best thing that could have happened to me."

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

"It's not like they're harbouring a fugitive!" Hermione burst out.

"You'll have to see about that." Harry told her, but not meeting her eyes.

Hermione was so happy that he at least was speaking to her that she did not fully register what he told her.

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive -'"**

"Idiot. If you're going to read zomething you aren't suppozed to don't do eet out loud!" Fleur exclaimed.

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind.**

**After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

**"Go to your cupboard - I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley - go - just go."**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again. And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

A few awkward coughs where heard around the room.

"What?" Asked Harry, curiously.

"You see... Well... Er... Mate, your plans don't always work out so well." Ron tried to explain feebly, "Don't get me wrong - you have brilliant plans and ideas! It's just that your plans don't mix well with your luck."

"Don't worry about it, Ron. I understand what you mean."

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first.**

"See that's is a legitimate plan, but somehow, somewhere, something is going to go horribly wrong." Hermione clarified.

**His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door - Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat - something alive! Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face.**

"Yes!" The twins cried and started to do a victory dance.

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap.**

**Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

**"I want -" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes. Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

**"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**

**"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

**"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

"I am thankful for that every single day.".

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.**

"Dudley was using the bathroom when that happened." Chuckled Harry. Laughter followed through the room after his statement.

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

"No comment. Just no." Remus stated tiredly. What self-respecting man would sing _that!?_

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

**"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly." Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"Oh, you know. Just the entire wizarding world." Sirius deadpanned.

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.**

**"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today -" Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.**

"Youngest seeker in a century." The Gryffindor chasers called.

**"Out! OUT!" Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall.**

People glared at the book Causing Harry to squirm. It was one thing to have all the attention on him, but to have them glaring too. '_Its your fault for volunteering to read, Genius!_' A sarcastic voice commented in his mind.

**When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

**"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his moustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!" He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway.**

**Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.**

"He deserved that!" said Bill.

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. "Shake'em off... shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

"Git."

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering...**

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

**"'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter. Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk." She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**Room 17**

**Railview Hotel**

**Cokeworth**

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

"Probably in shock." Hermione commented.

**"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

**"Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear." Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

**"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he." Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon.**

"If his son notices then he really must have gone of the deep end." Charlie stated with a raised eyebrow.

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared.**

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled.**

**"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television. "**

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday - and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television - then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday.**

"If you yell 'Happy Birthday!' I am going to skewer you with an old broomstick." Angelina threatened. The twins clamped their mouths shut and scooted away from the dark haired witch.

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun - last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.**

"Your next birthday we're going to throw you a massive party with heaps of presents and there's going to be food, girls, dancing, girls, music, girls and... and... and a bouncy castle! Yeah, a bouncy castle!" Sirius stated with a childlike expression, "Ooh, ooh! We can play '_Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Cat!_' Came up with that one myself."

Harry could not help but smile at his godfather's childlike nature. He really hoped they don't throw him a _massive_ party.

**Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

**"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!" It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

**"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!" A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old row boat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.**

"You could have gotten sick!" Huffed Hermione.

**"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!" It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas.**

"That- that- that's not even a snack!" Cried Ron.

Many had to suppress chuckles when looking at the distraught teen.

**He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shrivelled up.**

**"Could do with some of those letters now, eh." he said cheerfully.**

"Sadist!"

"That is just plain cruel."

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

Nyx, feeling that the mood wasn't as light as it was previously, gained a thoughtful look on her face. No sooner did a neon hot pink blanket shimmer into existence, but it also wrapped tightly around Harry. The laughter that followed was loud - pink was _really_ not his colour.

Harry tried to ignore the heat that was radiating off of him in waves in favor of looking for the culprit. One look at Nyx's failed attempt at an innocent face and he knew he had found the troublemaker.

Normally he would have retaliated if someone else did something like that, but she looked so cute trying to stifle her giggles, a giggle slipping out every once in a while, that he couldn't help the small soft smile that creeped up on his face.

Once control was somewhat regained Harry continued.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.**

"Aren't you a ray of sunshine?" Tonks grinned at him.

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds... twenty... ten... nine - maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him**

"_That_ would be funny."

**- three... two... one...**

**BOOM.**

Everyone jumped and glared at the pink burrito, formerly known as Harry James Potter, who had shouted the short statement.

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"That's the end of the chapter." Harry stated while closing the book.

* * *

**Harry's formal name suggestions: (continuing)**

Harrison - 6

Harold - 5

Hadrian - 13

Hadesian - 3

Harlo - 1

Harlynn - 1

Harcourt - 1

Haresh - 2

Hercules - 1 _(a bit skeptical about this one because of the whole Hercules and Zoe thing, but if in the end the majority of you guys and girls want it, what can I do?)_

* * *

_**If you review more, it motivates me more and I update faster!**_

_**McAwesome007 (: Xx**_


	5. The Keeper of The Keys

**Sorry for the long wait but school is hectic, have four major assignments ago do and I had to go to my best guy friend's, since I was four, 18th birthday party when all I wanted to do was curl up and sleep, but I do it for him.**

**My previous chapter I got about 9 or 10 reviews - Yeah, that was a kick in the stomach. That's ten reviews less than what I got for chapter 3.**

**Anyway, thanks to those who actually voted. Much appreciated!**

**The weather is so bad here! I think I'm going to die of heat. It's 37 degrees Celsius here or 98.6 Fahrenheit. **

**Rant over.**

* * *

**Published: 26 January 2013**

**Total words: 5, 979**

**UNBETA'd**

**Previously:**

_"That's the end of the chapter." Harry stated while closing the book._

* * *

"I'll read next." Nyx offered.

As she got up to retrieve the book Katie moved into Nyx's previous place whilst pulling Angelina with her, who in turn pulled Alicia.

Charlie, seeing what they were doing moved to sit next to Alicia and signaled for Sirius to sit in his vacated seat. Leaving the only seat available for Nyx in between Tonks and a still pink-burrito-Harry.

All this happened in a matter of seconds.

Nyx took the book from Harry, their fingers brushing slightly. Harry tried really hard to fight his blush. He swears. But it was no use - a red dusting settled over his cheeks.

Nyx herself felt her fingers tingle slightly. She shook her head slightly and turned to her seat. Only to find Katie talking to Hermione about... _Muggle paperclips?_

Looking around the room she saw that the only place available was next to... _Harry._

Trying to act indifferent she sat down in between Harry and Tonks, she succeeded somewhat for the only person who knew that she didn't know what to was Katie and she would not point it out. _Yet._

**CHAPTER FOUR - THE KEEPER OF THE KEYS.**

**BOOM. They knocked again.**

Nyx lifted her head to look at Harry, who had been staring at his hands in his lap. What was he supposed to do with his hands, one arm across the back of the couch, one on the armrest?

"You're going to be caught in a lot of unbelievable situations, aren't you?" She asked bringing him out of his erratic thoughts.

"Uh... Oh y-yeah, that's me bad-luck Potter." He told her._ You idiot! First you stutter then 'bad-luck Potter'!?_

_He's cute when he's flustered. _She smiled softly at him before realizing what she was doing. She turned back to the book and cleared her throat.

**Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly. There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands - now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them. **Nyx read with a tight voice and her hands clenched around the book.

"What?"

"To clarify." Hermione growled. "A rifle is a form of gun. A weapon very capable of killing someone within a few seconds."

A lot of growls and snarls were heard around the room.

**"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you - I'm armed!"**

The twins opened there mouths to joke but Tonks cut them off sensing that now was not the time for jokes, "It means he's got a weapon."

**There was a pause. Then - SMASH! The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**

**A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

"He sounds scary." Nyx commented looking up at the people in the room.

"He looks it but really he's just a big teddy bear." Ron grinned and many people nodded in agreement.

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

**"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh. It's not been an easy journey..."**

Everyone showed their amusement in one way or another. Many laughed, a few chuckled or grinned and Draco didn't sneer.

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

**"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

"The next time I see Hagrid I'm going to give him a huge hug!" Sirius declared, all the while grinning like a lunatic.

"Count me in." agreed Remus.

"I'm sure he would love that." Dumbledore commented, eyes a twinkling. **(A;/N: Like eyes a blazing)**

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

**"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

"That's the Hagrid we all know and love." Commented Sirius, joyously.

"Speak for yourself, Black." Severus sneered.

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yet dad, but yeh've got yet mom's eyes."**

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise. "I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

**"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant;**

"Maybe I should pay for any animal he wants as a thank-you, too." Added Sirius.

"NO!" yelled the teachers, former students and currents student who had to deal with Hagrid's '_harmless_' pets.

"Just a suggestion, sheesh!" He pouted.

**he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

"Well... That's one way of doing it then." Said Hermione, quite shocked. _R__ifles are made of strong materials to withstand the aftershock and force of a bullet traveling through it at jaw-dropping speeds and to just bend it so easily never mind tying it into a knot, Hagrid is plenty strong that's for sure._

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

"You'd be surprised at the cowardly noises a man of his stature can make." Grinned Harry.

Harry could easily pick out Nyx's bell-like laughter among everyone else's laughter. He was sure it could make a terrorist sign up for the peace corps.

**"Anyway - Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.**

"That was nice." said Alicia

"It was, but why _green_, why not red or gold, even _yellow_ but why _green_?!" Asked Ron, heatedly.

"It's the colour of his eyes." Deadpanned Angelina.

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you."**

"Harry..." Molly started to reprimand him but Nyx cut her off completely, knowing what the woman was about to do to someone who wasn't her child.

"You reacted better than I did when I met Mr D, our camp director for better words, I blatantly stated that I couldn't believe someone like him was a Greek god. Nothing 'Adonis-y' about him. He tried to incinerate me." She finished with a playful grin.

Harry easily returned the grin. _Mrs Weasley didn't scold him and he learnt something new about his future wife. He saw it as a win in his book. Er... His mental book._

**The giant chuckled. "True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

People winced in sympathy.

"By your reactions I take it that it's not an ideal situation." observed Nyx in amusement.

"It really isn't." Muttered Bill

"Hagrid just doesn't always remember that he's half-giant." said Charlie, feeling the need to come up for his fellow animal-lover.

**"What about that tea then, eh." he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

"Hmm... I love a nice hot bath..." Nyx trailed off with a blissful smile. _She really loved water and when her bath cooled down she just heated the water up again._

Harry looked everywhere but her, because if he looked at her he would starting thinking of her... In the bath... With bubbles... And candles... And naked... _Stupid hormones.*_

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea.**

"He can't do that in front of a child!"

"It was butterbeer. I recognised the smell first time I had it."

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

**The giant chuckled darkly. "Yet great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."**

"Okay, how about a trip to a dragon reserve?" Suggested Sirius.

"We will discuss this later, Mr Black." Sighed the Scottish professor, exsaperated.

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant.**

**Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

"Well that's a whole lot better." Nyx winked at Harry before turning back to the book, completely missing Harry's blushing face but his friends didn't. They smiled happily... Well Ginny didn't - she looked away with an angry scowl.

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

**"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."**

**"Er - no," said Harry.**

"This won't go-"

"-well at all."

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

**"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yet parents learned it all?"**

**"All what?" asked Harry.**

**"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered.**

**"Now wait jus' one second!" He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut.**

**The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy - this boy! - knows nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"**

"Gee, make a kid feel smart, why don't you?" Muttered Tonks sarcastically.

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad. "I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff."**

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."**

**"What world?" Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

**"DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.**

**"But yeh must know about yet mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."**

**"My - my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

_How did I miss that I was famous_, Harry wondered to himself.

"Out of the whole sentence you ask that?" Sneered Draco.

"Excuse me for being excited to know at least one thing about my parents." Snapped Harry effectively shutting the Malfoy heir up.

**"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

**"Yeh don' know what yeh are." he said finally.**

"You're a prat!"

"You're a git!"

"You're a flobberworm!"

"You're a ferret."

"Woah, woah, no need to get insulting now!" Gred told his twin brother, Forge.

"You're right." He agreed before turning to Harry, who seconds ago had an amused smile on his face until he was called a... a... He couldn't even think it..._ A f__-ferret!_ "My deepest apologies. I wasn't think clearly, nor was I in the right state of mind. Please forgive me, kind sir."

He looked so sincere that Harry had no choice but to accept his apology.

Malfoy scowled at everyone who was laughing._ It was an outrage, he was a Malfoy - They made fun of people, not the other way around!_

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

**"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

"Yes, becauze zat is going to work." Commented Fleur sarcastically. Bill grinned and kissed the top of her head causing her to snuggle into him and Molly to glower at her.

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

**"You never told him. Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him. I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years."**

**"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

**"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

"Oh my gods, it's like you just murdered the pope or something!" Groaned Katiie.

**"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid.**

**"Harry - yet a wizard."**

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

**"- a what?" gasped Harry.**

The Pure bloods laughed while the muggle raised looked sheepish having had a similar reaction.

"I know that when your mother was told that she's witch she said, 'Well that's rude!'. It apparently took her awhile to believe whoever told her." Stated Remus. _He knew that Severus had told her as a child but he left the story to Severus - if he ever got over stupid rude and tried to tell Harry about his mother._

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be. An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

"Finally." Many sighed.

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**The Floor**

**Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea.**

**He pulled out the letter and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall,**

**Deputy Headmistress**

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

"That was your first question?"

"It was the last thing I read and the rest wasn't all that confusing." He explained

**"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl - a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl - a long quill, and a roll of parchment.**

**With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:**

The Weasley twins suddenly had hats on their heads as they stood and bowed to Harry.

"I take my hat off to-"

"-you, kind sir, for I couldn't-"

"-even read it right-side up!" They finished in unison as they took the other's hat of in an over-exaggerated hat-tip.

_**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**_

_**Given Harry his letter.**_

**_Taking him to buy his things tomorrow._**

**_Weather's horrible. Hope you're well._**

**_Hagrid_**

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

Ron snorted.

**"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

**"He's not going," he said.**

**Hagrid grunted.**

**"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

**"A what?" said Harry, interested.**

**"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call non-magic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

"Literally." Arthur whistled quietly.

Everyone who had already seen Dudley and Vernon were laughing at Mr Weasley's commented causing said man to blush the famous Weasley-Red.

**"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

**"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a - a wizard."**

**"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was. Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school-and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning ****teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak!"**

Remus and Sirius growled.

Snape looked murderous, but tried to hide it. _Lily Evans was not a freak!_

"**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!" She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**

**"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as - as - abnormal - and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

Some people looked pale while most looked down right murderous.

Without giving it much thought Nyx removed one of her hands from the book and laced her fingers through Harry's for comfort. If Harry hadn't been preoccupied with trying to ignore everything he probably would have blushed and thought of how nice her small hand felt in his.

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up. You told me they died in a car crash!"**

The twins were mentally preparing a whole volley of pranks in their minds. They couldn't write it on paper because then everyone would know and their mom would ground them and yell for hours and if they pull it off no one could say that it was them because they wouldn't have any proof.

**"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

**"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

**"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh - but someone's gotta - yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'." He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

"They're gonna end up being mauled by a werewolf."

"-and a dog.

"-I'll change my hands to talons."

**"Well, its best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh - mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it..." He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with - with a person called - but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows -"**

**"Who?"**

**"Well - I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

**"Why not?"**

**"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..." Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

**"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

**"Nah -can't spell it. All right - Voldemort."**

People around the room flinched and quivered where as the twins looked on with awe.

"You got him to say He-Who-Must-Be-Hyphenated's name?!" They asked, flabbergasted.

**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this - this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too - some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right."**

"**Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches... terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him - an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway."**

People nodded it made sense. Hogwarts was a well protected school. _Supposedly_, Harry thought. He hasn't seen any sign of it in his previous four years.

"**Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side."**

Remus snorted. "James taught us that the best way to fight the dark arts is with the dark arts and he had a natural talent for them though in his defence he only used them against death eaters and he had boundaries."

Dumbledore quickly steered the conversation back to the book, _Harry must not think it is all might lead him to study the Dark arts - he could become to submerged in the dark arts and become so himself._

**"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' - an' -" Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

People looked down for a moment and Nyx squeezed Harry's fingers gently. In response Harry in a sort of daze placed his head on her shoulder.

**"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad - knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find - anyway..."**

Nyx skimmed ahead and noticed what was to come so she decided to quickly read thought the paragraph without giving people chance to comment.

**"You-Know-Who killed 'em. ****An' then - an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing - he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead. That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh - took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even - but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry."**

"**No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age - the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts**

The respective friends and families looked down for a moment of silence and Mr Weasley pulled his wife closer to him.

**- an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before - and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

People looked sick. _No one should have to remember that._

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

**"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."**

**"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there.**

**Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

**"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured**

Growls echoed through out the room and Nyx tightened her hold on Harry's hand.

**- and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion - asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types - just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -"**

Remus was barely keeping his wolf at bay. _No one talks and treats his pack like that. No one._

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you - one more word... "**

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

**"But what happened to Vol-, sorry - I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

"You didn't say his name." Ron yelled triumphantly.

"And how long did that last, Ron?" Hermione asked and added when she saw he was about to reply, "That was a rhetorical question."

**"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful - why'd he go?**

**"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it.**

"Because he didn't." Harry muttered quietly.

**People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back."**

**"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on - I dunno what it was, no one does - but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

"No, that was my beautiful, intelligent and loving mum."

"A perfect mother." Nyx told him quietly making him smile.

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake.**

**A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard. If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard." To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

**"Not a wizard, eh. Never made things happen when you was scared or angry." Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it... every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach... dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back... and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it. Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

"Bloody brilliant."

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

**"See." said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard - you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

**"Haven't I told you he's not going." he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish - spell books and wands and -"**

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter' s son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. ****His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled-"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

"Ooh." Tonks called, excitedly. _There was one thing you don't do in front of Hagrid - insult Dumbledore. This was bound to be good._

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER," he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE- IN- FRONT- OF- ME!"**

**He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley - there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

Everyone roared with laughter.

Tonks grinned, _She was not disappointed at all._

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard. "Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he ****said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

Everyone laughed uproariously.

"I would love to say we taught him that." Sirius wiped tears of laughter out of his eyes, "but alas we did not."

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

**"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm - er - not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff - one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job."**

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

**"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er - got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**

**"Why were you expelled?"**

"That is personal Harry!" Molly scolded as she tried to get up and comfort him, but Arthur held her back. He was stronger than he looked.

"Besides he never tells anyone about it." Said Bill, not noticing the looks the trio exchanged.

**"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that." He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

**"You can kip under that,"**

"That's nice of him."

**he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."**

**"**That's the end." announced Nyx.

* * *

**Im sorry if its not as good as it could be, but I rushed this chapter - sort of. I'm lying in bed half asleeit while I finish this chapter, but I felt that I owed owed you guys.**

**Enjoy.**

**PS. It seems that 'Hadrian' has won the vote with a count of 14 and the closest to that was 'Harrison' with 7.**

**_PLEASE REVIEW!_**


	6. Diagon Alley

**Posted: 5 February 2013**

**Total words: 9, 317**

**UNBETA'd**

* * *

_**Previously:**_

_"That's the end." announced Nyx._

* * *

"I will read." McGonagall announced. The book was passed around until it reached Minerva.

**CHAPTER FIVE - DIAGON ALLEY**

**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight.**

Harry was on the receiving end of some quizzical looks. He just shrugged at them, but something caught his attention.

When he shrugged his shoulders the movement caused him to notice the small weight on his left hand. Looking down he saw well-manicured fingers interlaced with his own. He knew that if he followed the arm, attached to the hand, up he would meet striking blue-green eyes which belonged to his future wife, a future wife that doesn't know she's going to be his future wife.

He could feel a light blush forming on his cheeks. The one reason was obvious. '_He was holding his future-wife's hand for the first time and he, a boy with no prior relationship history, personally thought that this was a good sign._', but the other reason for his blush was that he had successfully confused himself in his own mind with the whole '_future-wife_' monologue.

**"It was a dream," he told himself firmly. "I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard."**

'_That's so sad. Something good happens, so obviously it has to be a dream._' Hermione thought the last part sarcastically.

**There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.**

_**'And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door,'**_**Harry thought, his heart sinking. But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.**

**Tap. Tap. Tap.**

**"All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up." He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak.**

**Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him.**

"Aww... We love the happy balloon." The twins cooed together.

**He went straight to the window and jerked it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.**

"Bloody Prophet owls." grumbled Sirius.

"It's your own fault." Sighed Remus

"No it's not!" He defended himself

"You tried paying of _an owl_ so that you could get your... er... _special_ magazines delivered to you without your mother knowing!"

Sirius just huffed and crossed his arms over his chest while a few of the room's occupant were laughing, but some of the older generation *cough* Mrs Weasley *cough* thought that it was a highly inappropriate story that should not be discussed in front of children because it could ruin their sweet, innocent minds and she felt that she didn't want her children to be exposed to something like that at such a young age.

**"Don't do that." Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.**

**"Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl…"**

**"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa**

**"What?"**

**"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets." Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets - bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags... finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.**

"They aren't strange." Sneered Malfoy.

"They are to Muggleborns, especially since muggle money has the money value on the actual money - it's fairly easy to work." Hermione told him.

**"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.**

**"Knuts?"**

**"The little bronze ones." Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off ****through the open window.**

**Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.**

"Why do that if he was going to get up anyway?" Asked Angelina, with a slightly irritated expression. She hated when someone could do something themselves, but asked someone else who didn't have the right knowledge to do it.

"I really don't know..." Harry trailed of with a confused expression.

"Maybe Hagrid wanted to help you by having you learn the different coins first hand." Offered Ginny timidly.

**"Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school." Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

"No! Not the happy balloon."

**"Um – Hagrid?"**

**"Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

**"I haven't got any money - and you heard Uncle Vernon last night ... he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."**

**"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"**

**"But if their house was destroyed -"**

"We don't keep our money in our houses, Potter." Malfoy sneered.

"They do in muggle fantasy books." defended Nyx. She hated bullies and as far as she was concerned Malfoy was a bully.

_Stupid muggles. _Draco thought venomously.

**"They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold - an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."**

**"Wizards have banks?"**

**"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins." Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.**

**"Goblins?"**

Several people shuddered

"That was your mother's reaction." Snape muttered so quietly that no one heard. _Well I told him the information - It's not my fault that the brat doesn't have good enough hearing._

**"Yeah - so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you, gettin' things from Gringotts - knows he can trust me, see."**

**"Got everythin'? Come on, then."**

**Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.**

"How did your relatives get back?" Arthur inquired.

"I asked when I got back but all that I could find out was that they got a lift from some fishing boat that passed by and all my relatives paling when it's mentioned. Dudley, however did mutter something about '_... Hug... One eye... Poke... Shark..._' Quite confusing."

**"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat.**

**"Flew," said Hagrid.**

"Flew?"

**"Flew?"**

Draco's face showed repulsion. _I do not think like him!_

**"Yeah - but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh." They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.**

**"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter - er - speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"**

"Only Hagrid." Smiled Sirius, fondly. Many nodded in agreement with his statement.

**"Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land.**

**"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.**

**"Spells - enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the highsecurity vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way - Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."**

"Why does that feel foreboding?" Asked Nyx in quiet voice. Anyone who was insane enough to try and rob Gringotts never made it out alive and she was becoming quite attached to the green-eyed teen next to her. _Just friends, obviously. Just friends._ She sighed.

"You're right, it does." Hermione agreed before turning to pin Harry with her chocolate coloured eyes "You are not robbing a bank, do you hear me?" She said each word separately trying to get her point across.

"Hey, I don't know if I'm going rob a bank. If I do in the future I must have a good reason, but don't worry I have no urges what so ever to go rob a bank, okay?" Harry responded.

Hermione nodded her head in reply where as Nyx squeezed his hand slightly.

**Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life.**

**"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page.**

**"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself.**

**"'Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one.**

**So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."**

"Fudge will probably say that Dumbledore is lying about that too." Snarled Sirius. Still quite miffed about Fudge's smear campaign against Harry in the _Daily Prophet_ the summer that passed.

"I assure you being the Minister of Magic is very hard for people like Cornelius." Mr. Twinkles-himself commented causing laughter around the room.

**"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?"**

**"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."**

"Good summary."

**"Why?"**

**"Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."**

Many nodded in agreement. _It would be disastrous if muggles found out about magic and what they could do._

**At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street.**

**Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh."**

"Nice job staying undercover." Ron snorted.

"Well Ickle Ronnie, it is quite hard to stay undercover-"

"-when you're traveling with a half-giant, don't you think so?"

Their only response was a fierce redness appearing around the youngest Weasley's ears.

**"Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"**

"They don't really have dragons in Gringotts?" Asked Charlie "_Do they?!_" He seethed.

"I'm not at liberty to say. Anything I know about Gringotts I'm am unable to divulge, but I can tell you that I have never seen a dragon in Gringotts but that's not saying much because I'm not allowed access to the vault areas." Bill tried to soothe his brother.

**"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."**

**"You'd like one?"**

**"Wanted one ever since I was a kid - here we go." They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.**

"It's easy, the numbers are on it." Repeated Hermione incredulously. _It really was not that hard to tell the difference!_

**People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.**

"I think it was a blanket for Fang, because I saw it once in his basket when we went to visit the dr- Norbet, when we went to visit Norbet. Yes, uh... then." Harry told them, the last part coming out feebly.

**"Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches. Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket.**

**"Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."**

**Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**UNIFORM - First-year students will require:**

**Three sets of plain work robes (black)**

**One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**

"What is that for?" Ron spoke up.

"You'll see if it's in here." McGonagall replied.

**One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**

**One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)**

**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags**

**COURSE BOOKS - All students should have a copy of each of the following:**

**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk**

"Very useful." Hermione remarked.

**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot**

**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling**

**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch**

**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**

**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger**

"Loved it till I meet the teacher." Harry sighed.

His statement shocked Snape a lot, but then his mind countered that Potter was over-reacting because he didn't get special attention in his potions class. _Yes that's it._

**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander**

**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble**

Everyone from Harry's year and up, who attended Hogwarts groaned. That book was terrible. It was long-winded and boring.

**OTHER EQUIPMENT –**

**wand**

**cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)**

**set of glass or crystal phials**

**telescope**

**set of brass scales**

**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad**

**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**

"Unless you Harry bloody stinking Potter!" Grumbled Malfoy.

**"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.**

**"If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid.**

**Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.**

**"I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.**

"They don't know any different." Countered Hermione "They even have a few better inventions and solutions for everyday problems."

Draco looked at his godfather for reassurance that it wasn't true, but all he received was a blank stare.

**Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them?Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks?**

"Yes, Yes and Yes."

**Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up?**

"Harry..." The Twins gasped but Harry held up a finger.

**If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humor,**

They nodded.

**he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him.**

"He does have that affect on people." Stated Charlie.

**"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place." It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub.**

**If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it.**

"Observant, Mr Potter." Said Tonks in her best Bond voice.

**Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.**

**For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut.**

Many broke out in hysterics at this new revelation.

"That is so true." Muttered Arthur quietly but was quickly on the receiving end of a withering glare from the Weasley matriarch.

**The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"**

**"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.**

Groans were heard around the room. _That is definitely not something you want to experience!_

**"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this- can this be-?" The Leaky ****Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.**

**"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honour." He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.**

"He was friends with your dad and us." Said Remus.

Harry smiled a little, he was glad to know something new about his parents no matter how small or insignificant it seemed to others.

**"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back." Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out.**

**Hagrid was beaming.**

**Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.**

**"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."**

**"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."**

**"Always wanted to shake your hand - I'm all of a flutter."**

**"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."**

**"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."**

**"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!"**

Everyone who knew Dedalus laughed.

**Harry shook hands again and again - Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.**

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.**

**"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at ****Hogwarts."**

**"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p- pleased I am to meet you."**

"That stutter was so annoying." Katie groaned. Many nodded there heads in agreement.

Remus who was listening intently to the book was surprised when he heard Harry grumble about the stutter being fake and it made him wonder how his nephew in all but blood knew that.

**"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"**

**"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter." He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose. I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.**

"How can you teach if your scared of your own subject?" wondered Nyx.

"You can't." George said with a flirtatious smile causing Harry to scowl at him.

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.**

**"Must get on - lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."**

**Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.**

**Hagrid grinned at Harry.**

**"Told yeh, didn't I. Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh - mind you, he's usually tremblin'."**

**"Is he always that nervous?"**

**"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag - never been the same since.**

Harry laughed at that. '_Voldemort the Hag!_'

**Scared of the students, scared of his own subject now, where's me umbrella?"**

**Vampires. Hags. Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.**

**"Three up... two across," he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry." He tapped the wall three ****times with the point of his umbrella.**

**The brick he had touched quivered - it wriggled - in the middle, a small hole appeared - it grew wider and wider - a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.**

"You are so descriptive." Hermione thought out loud.

"I have never been to Diagon Alley, but from the way you described the alley, it sounds amazing." Nyx told him quietly looking at him with her beautiful eyes. Harry couldn't only nod and smile at her because he knew if he opened his mouth '_Uh guh eh_' would come out of it.

**"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley." He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall.**

**The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop.**

**Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.**

"Don't get the collapsible ones." Remus advised.

Snape snorted at that and received a glare from Sirius.

**"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."**

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes.**

Ron shuddered at the spider reference.

**He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping.**

**A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad..."**

**A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever -"**

Harry sighed at the mention of his old broom.

**There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon...**

**"Gringotts," said Hagrid.**

**They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was - "Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him.**

**The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:**

**Enter, stranger, but take heed**

**Of what awaits the sin of greed,**

**For those who take, but do not earn,**

**Must pay most dearly in their turn.**

**So if you seek beneath our floors**

**A treasure that was never yours,**

**Thief, you have been warned, beware**

**Of finding more than treasure there.**

"I love that poem." Angelina smiled.

Ron gave her a weird look. "You _like_ the poem that speaks of getting hurt if you try to steal something from them?" He asked incredulously.

"I am not going to steal anything so yes, I like the poem."

**"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.**

**A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in ****large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses.**

**There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.**

**"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."**

**"You have his key, Sir?"**

A few people raised their eyebrows at that. Why did Hagrid have his vault key? Harry could have just received his key through a simple blood test.

**"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers.**

"The goblins like things neat." Bill groaned in pity for his friends.

**The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.**

**"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.**

**The goblin looked at it closely.**

**"That seems to be in order."**

**"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen." The goblin read the letter carefully.**

**"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!" Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors ****leading off the hall.**

**"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.**

"With Lily and James as parents I'd be worried If you weren't curious." Remus smiled.

**"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."**

**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in - Hagrid with some difficulty - and were off.**

"I love those carts." Harry and Nyx stated together before grinning at each other.

_So that could be why they fell for each other_, thought many and McGonagall added mentally '_Oh no, how have their children turned out? I know Harry got this from James, but to have both parents..._'

Many were confused when they saw Minerva shudder with a look of horror in her eyes before she snapped out of it and continued reading.

**At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible.**

"Zat's pretty impressive." commented Fleur.

**The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.**

**Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late - - they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.**

**"I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite."**

Ron clamped his hand over Hermione's mouth when she opened it to explain. Her face screwed up in slight disgust,_ I hope he washed his hands._

**"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid.**

Hermione huffed slightly from her confinement. _That was _definitely_ not what I was going to say!_

**"An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick." He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.**

**Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.**

"That's your trust vault, If you like at some point I can take you to Gringotts and help you get a meeting with your bank manager." Bill offered to which Harry smiled and nodded.

**"All yours," smiled Hagrid.**

**All Harry's - it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London.**

"Way more, your a descendent of Gryffindor and I know that you are also the heir of Peverell. There might be more, you can check with a inheritance test" Everyone's jaw had dropped at Sirius's statement.

**Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag.**

**"The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh."**

**He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"**

**"One speed only," said Griphook.**

**They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.**

"Good."

**Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.**

**"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.**

**"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped ****in there," said Griphook.**

**"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside." Harry asked.**

**"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.**

Several people pulled faces.

**Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly,**

**expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least - but at first he thought it was empty.**

**Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor.**

**Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask.**

Severus arched an eyebrow mockingly but didn't comment.

**"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.**

**One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life - more money than even Dudley had ever had.**

**"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.**

Draco sunk in his seat.

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.**

**"Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."**

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to ****him, slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.**

**"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"**

**"Yes," said Harry.**

**"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice.**

"Do I really?" Draco asked quietly to himself but most heard him.

"Yes." Was answered instantaneously making the blonde haired pureblood scowl at them.

**"Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."**

**Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.**

Draco spluttered. _He was nothing like that muggle!_

**"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.**

**"No," said Harry.**

**"Play Quidditch at all?"**

**"No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

"Blasphemy!" The Gryffindor team roared making Harry blush.

**"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"**

**"No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute.**

**"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"**

Draco's face became pink.

**"Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.**

**"I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.**

"That's nice." Ginny remarked

**"That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."**

**"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

**"He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking this boy less and less every second.**

"I don't blame you." Nyx agreed quietly.

**"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage - lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."**

**"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.**

**"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"**

**"They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.**

**"Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all.**

Growls, snarls and glares were aimed at Draco.

**"But they were our kind, weren't they?"**

**"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."**

"Very nicely handled, Harry." Hermione said approvingly.

**"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you. They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding ****families. What's your surname, anyway?"**

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.**

**"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.**

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts).**

"I like raspberries." Nyx stated happily.

Katie snorted, "Like? You are obsessed with any type of berry. Almost worse than my mother and her obsessions." Nyx huffed at her and pouted making Harry want to give her anything she wanted.

**"What's up?" said Hagrid.**

**"Nothing," Harry lied. They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"**

**"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know - not knowin' about Quidditch!"**

**"Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pate boy in Madam Malkin's. "-and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in."**

**"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were - he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh.**

**Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles - look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"**

**"So what is Quidditch?"**

**"It's our sport. Wizard sport.**

"Yeah!"

**It's like - like soccer in the Muggle world ****- everyone follows Quidditch - played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls -****sorta hard ter explain the rules."**

"It is not!" There was outrage from all the quidditch fanatics.

**"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"**

**"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but -"**

"There's nothing wrong with being a Hufflepuff! I'm proud to be one!" Stated a red haired Tonks.

**"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff" said Harry gloomily.**

**"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin.**

"That's not true, the person who betrayed my parents was Gryffindor." Stated Harry even though he knew that most of the room's occupants knew this already he felt that he should remind them so that they don't react as badly when his sorting was read.

**You-Know-Who was one."**

**"Vol-, sorry - You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"**

**"Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.**

**They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all.**

**Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from **_**Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue- **__**Tying and Much, Much More)**_**by Professor Vindictus Viridian.**

**"I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."**

"Nice."

**"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."**

**"**Good don't let him get carried away." McGonagall sniffed.

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop).**

"Professor Snape you might like to know I was interested in potions until I met you." Harry said and a few nodded in agreement where as Snape just sneered, _He is a liar and the rest follow him like sheep!_

**Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.**

**"Just yer wand left - yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."**

**Harry felt himself go red. "You don't have to -"**

**"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at ****- an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."**

**Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing.**

"Hedwig!" Harry cried with delight.

Nyx could see that his owl meant a lot to him, too bad she won't be able to get close to the beautiful owl. _Stupid Athena._

**He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.**

**"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivander's left now - only place fer wands, Ollivander's, and yeh gotta have the best wand." A magic wand... this was what Harry had been really looking forward to.**

**The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.**

"Legend says that it's Merlin's wand." Dumbledore stated with his usual twinkle.

**A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.**

"Very Impressive." Commented Dumbledore. _The boy is more powerful than what I first thought._

**"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.**

**An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.**

**"Hello," said Harry awkwardly.**

**"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow Nice wand for charm work."**

"Her best subject along with Ancient Runes." Sirius informed him.

**Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.**

**"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration.**

"One of my best students." McGonagall said with distinct pride. "You seemed to have gained some of his talent, Mr. Potter."

**Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course." Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could ****see himself reflected in those misty eyes.**

**"And that's where..." Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger.**

**"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly.**

**"Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..." He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid.**

**"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it."**

**"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.**

**"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled." said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.**

**"Er - yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.**

**"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.**

**"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

"Of course not."

**"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look.**

**"Well, now - Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"**

**"Er - well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.**

**"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."**

"Someone should talk to Neville's gran then." Seeing the questioning looks, Harry elaborated, "His gran is making him use his father's wand."

Minerva sat back, shocked. Why would her old friend do that, she knows of the importance of having your own wand.

**Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.**

**"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave." Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.**

**"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try -" Harry tried - but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.**

**"No, no -here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."**

**Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. ****Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.**

"How many did you try?!" Asked Hermione, shocked.

"I tried.." He paused for a moment thinking.

"That was rhetorical, Harry..."

"I knew that..."

**"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - - yes, why not - unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and ****supple."**

**Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls.**

"There we go ladies, gentlemen and Snape." The twins announced "Little Harry has found his wand!"

**Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very ****good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious... " He put Harry's wand back into its ****box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious…"**

**"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?" Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.**

**"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother why, its brother gave you that scar." Harry swallowed.**

There was a shocked silence in the room.

Harry stared at the coffee table in front of him. All of a sudden all his friends were telling him that they didn't care until all he could hear was a babbled mess. He was thankful but the person who's opinion mattered the most, who was holding his hand, had yet to say anything, but soon he felt her smaller hand squeeze his and he released the breath of air that he was subconsciously holding.

He looked at her with relief and if not a little bit of curiosity. She only smiled a cute smile and lean in closer to whisper into his ear, "The wand is trying to make up for what it's brother has done and what better way to do it than with someone who has a pure heart."

As she leaned away Harry couldn't help but smile goofily. _She smells like cotton candy and berries..._

**"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He- Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."**

"He admires the power and intelligence behind the magic - not what he's done."

**Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.**

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder.**

**"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.**

**He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.**

"It always does." Tonks smiled.

**"You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.**

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life - and yet - he ****chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

**"Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last.**

"You are!" Hermione and Ron stated, but Harry felt that they had to do that because they were his best friends.

"You kind of are." Nyx whispered in his ear and even though he didn't believe it, it meant a lot more to him because _she_ thought he was special.

Meanwhile Nyx was mentally hitting her head, '_kind of'_ - he is special! But why did you say '_kind of'_?!

** "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander... but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry - I mean, the night my parents died."**

**Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile.**

**"Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts - I did - still do, 'smatter of fact."**

"Hogwarts sounds great." Nyx smiled.

"Yeah, it really is even though we have a toad problem." Harry added making people laugh and Nyx looked confused... _Toad?_

Harry just smiled at her and squeezed her hand.

**Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope.**

**"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " he said. "First o' September - King's Cross - it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me... See yeh soon, Harry."**

**The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

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**Thanks to the few who actually did review last chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Not my best work - I am sooooo tired! But anyway... GOOD NIGHT! **

**Please update - the more reviews I have the faster I will update but if I only get 5 reviews again I'm going to take my time with the next chapter.**


	7. Interlude 2 - Let's go live in Narnia

**Posted:** 12 February 2013

**Total words:** 2349 (without Author's Note - sorry that its not that long)

**UNBETA'd**

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_Thank you all for the reviews and I'm trying to update as fast as I can but with homework, assignments, my mom nagging me for always being on my iPad reading fanfiction and the math test coming up on tuesday (12/02/2013) it has been hectic._

_PS. I could finally upgrade my phone yesterday so you are looking at the brand new owner of an iPhone 5. I only got the 16GB because I pay my cellphone bill and when my mom upgrades in a month she is going to get the 64GB and then swap with me... But then she is probably going to complain about me using it to much...sigh... You can never win._

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**Thank you for your reviews and I would like to answer and verify a few things:**

1. Nyx's mom will still be Sally. NO ONE ELSE!

2. Harry and Nyx, while they will end up together it will not be in the next few chapters. They have to get to know each other and I'm only a few chapters into the first book. They aren't both going to all of a sudden realize their passionate love for each other and go have sex in the closest bathroom.

You have to remember that Harry also doesn't know much about a relationship and how to proceed about one, but rest a sured they will definitely be together officially before book three and they will have at least have kissed before the end of book three.

3. Many of you are asking me to have Nyx use her powers and I do plan on doing that but I'm not going to be that author who has that story where everything is as dramatic and over exaggerated as a Spanish soap opera.

4. Lily Potter, neè Evans and James Potter will be Harry's parents. NO ONE ELSE.

* * *

It was quiet for awhile before Nyx started fidgeting. She was just about to make a comment about spoons - Blame the ADHD! - when the youngest Weasley, the gangly one's stomache rumbled loudly in obvious hunger._ I think his name was Rodney... Or was it Robby... He doesn't look like a Robby... Maybe it is Lenny... Hehe Lenny the vegetarian shark... That was a good movie... Oh, the people are moving out of the room._

Harry didn't know what to do with him blowing up at his friends and all that. It just felt to awkward and he refused to talk about it. He decided to go and have a shower and maybe have a quiet room appear just for him. He looked down at the petite hand he was holding and then looked at her face but it was quite obvious to him she was in her own world. She looked cute. He reluctantly started to untangle their hands and moved up the stairs to a separate bathroom he mentally requested.

Thanks to her great deduction skills, which had nothing to do with over hearing the twins speaking about what their mom was going to make for dinner, she figured out that the Red Mother Hen was going to make dinner. She felt that she could be the modern day Sherlock Holmes, but with boobs. _Ooh, one of those trench coats would be cool. Ugh... Damn it! My ADHD gets worse when I'm tired and I haven't slept in about fourth-eight hours._

"Are you going to come up to the room while we wait for dinner or are you going to stay down here?" Katie questioned, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, sure. I want to take a nice bath." She said getting up and stretching. She looked at her right hand. It was... Empty. She spun around to take in the whole room. Where did Harry go?

"He went upstairs." Katie told her, after seeing her cousin's confused look she felt she should help her.

"I-I wasn't looking for Harry."

"Really, and what were you looking for then?"

"Uh... Riptide?"

"Riptide is in you pocket. It's always in your pocket."

"It is?! Well that's news to me! Well now that we solved the problem we should go upstairs." She told her cousin, who had an exasperated look on her face as if it wasn't the first time she had to deal with her raven-haired cousin's... authentic behaviour.

Nyx raced up the stairs passed Katie and to their room. Katie soon followed at a more subdued pace while shaking her head slowly.

Harry exited the shower feeling refreshed and a little less tense. As he was drying his hair with the one towel he looked around the room and groaned - he forgot to bring clothes. After preparing himself for the possibility of humiliation he wrapped his towel around his waist and slowly opened the bathroom door to peak down the hallway to see if anyone was coming. Seeing no one he breathed out a breath of relief.

He quickly exited the bathroom. The door vanishing as soon as he latched the door. He quickly strode down the hallway as he turned around the corner - he only had two rooms to go - a soft feminine body collided with him.

Nyx bound around the corner to get to her room quickly. Her bladder was really full. As she turned around the corner she crashed into a semi-wet body, a very firm body. Her hands, out of instinct, came out in front of her to try and steady her, but all she felt was abs.

Harry looked down to see who he had crashed into when he saw blue-green eyes, that he would be able to pick out from any crowd, looking down at him. He felt his cheeks redden and the heat travel down his neck when he felt her hands on his stomache.

"Nyx?" Katie's voice traveled down the hallway that Nyx had just came from, "I heard something crash. Did you trip over your feet again?"

Nyx looked down at Harry, her face burning red. "I-I n-need to g-go." She managed to stutter out before racing down the hall to her room.

Harry scrambled onto his feet and made his way to his room in record time.

Katie walked around the corner expecting Nyx to be ass-over-head sprawled out on the floor but there was no one in the hallway. She shook her head and carried onto her room.

* * *

Dinner was somewhat subdued. There was small talk in between a few people around the table, but otherwise it was relatively quiet.

Many noticed, well most of the females noticed the men were too focused on their food and not missing their mouths when shoveling the food to their mouths to notice anything else, that Nyx sat at one end of the table and Harry on the complete opposite side and it appeared that they were avoiding eye contact and both were playing with their food, lost in their own thoughts. Sometimes flushing a slight red colour.

Nobody commented on their odd behaviour.

After dinner the dishes were magically cleaned by Molly and everyone went their separate ways before bed.

Later that night Nyx was lying in bed. The lights were off and her roommates were sound asleep. She was tired herself, but her brain wouldn't shut down.

With a sigh she slowly worked her way out of the room trying to refrain from waking up the other girls. She made her way down towards the kitchen. Maybe a cup of coffee would help her... Or chocolate milk. She wasn't really allowed to have coffee anyway, it ma her as hyper as a squirrel in a nutstore.

After retrieving her chocolate milk she made her way towards the sitting room. She was about to sit on the one couch in front of the fire when she noticed some light coming from a crack of a slightly open door that wasn't their earlier on when they were reading.

She crept towards the room. Her hand in her pockets, that she had magic'd onto all her clothes and apparently this place they were staying at knew enough about her that it was in these clothes too, her hand on riptide just in case - she slowly pushed open the door. What she found wasn't a monster but Harry who was lying on a massive white couch in a room that was covered in stars that revolved around the whole room.

The creak of the door alerted Harry to someone being in the room. He sat up abruptly, his wand in his hand. He relaxed when he saw it was Nyx before reddening when he thought of what happened mere hours ago.

"Oh sorry, I just wanted to see where the glow was coming from." Apologized Nyx.

"It's okay." Responded Harry, quietly.

They stayed staring at each other for a few moments before Nyx seemed to snap out of it. "I should probably leave you then... Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He told her before hesitating, "Wait! Uhm... Do you want to join me? That's if you aren't tired or have something else to do or you want to go sleep or want to be alone or..."

"That would be nice, thank you." She responded quietly.

Harry scooted over so that their was room for her.

After laying quietly next to each other for a while just watching the stars move around the room.

"Listen about earlier..." Harry started

"... Sorry about that, totally my fault." finished Nyx.

"No, it's not its mine."

"Nah, I've been warned so many times by mom not to run in the house and all the times Katie and Annabeth, my other best friend, has had to help me up well it's obviously my fault."

"How about we agree to disagree?" Offered Harry, seeing that they were both too stubborn and he didn't want to argue nor did he have the energy.

"Okay." She agreed, after thirty seconds had passed she muttered quietly, "but I'm right."

He chuckled quietly and nudged her shoulder with his. They lay in relative silence. Nyx turned on her side and looked at Harry for awhile, analyzing him.

Harry had felt her eyes on him from the beginning but it didn't creep him out it just made him self-conscious, what if she found something she didn't like? He turned his head to meet her gaze. She looked at him as if contemplating something.

"Do you want to ask something?" He asked her quietly. She nodded quietly and opened her mouth before frowning and closing her mouth, she repeated this a few times as if contemplating how to phrase something. Finally it seemed as if she made a decision.

"How do you feel about these books? Having your life read about loud for everyone to know, things you don't want them to know." She asked him while searching his face for any emotion.

Harry pondered her question, "I hate it to be honest, but to have the chance to save people's lives and knowing how to end this war that has only just started brewing, it's intense but I can't do anything about it. I mean, it would have been great if it was just an overview of what happened, what could be prevented and how. I just keep thinking why me?"

Silence filled the room once more.

"What if I made you a deal?" She offered, "At the end of first year I will telling you everything about my first year of finding out I was a demigod and anything you want to know, okay?"

"Thank you. Really, thank you - it makes me feel a bit better and I'm sorry for that, but at least I get to know you." He smiled at her which she happily returned.

They lay there until two in the morning until they felt their eyes drifting. Harry suggested they go back to bed unless they want to be found by the Weasley twins and that was bound to end badly.

Harry felt that as he walked next to her down the hallway that tonight would have been the perfect opportunity to tell her about their future marriage, but he held back. He liked having her around and didn't want to end up scaring her away. Besides what was he going to say, '_Hi, you've known me now for twenty four hours now and we are going to get married, having children and maybe we should go live in Narnia?_' He shook his head slightly he must have been more tired than he previously thought.

They bid each other goodnight and silently made their way back to bed where they fell asleep instantly.

* * *

Everyone was awake and gathering in the kitchen all except Nyx. Everyone sat around the table thinking that Nyx was just a little late when after waiting for five minutes and no sign of the french Demi-Witch Ron couldn't take it anymore and started dishing up for himself.

Harry, being used to having little sleep was up at his usual time, looked disapprovingly at his best mate. He was just about to go and check on her when the twins jumped up with mischievous grins and bounce out of the room and up the stairs.

Katie groaned. There are a few things you just don't do and that is wake up Nikole Alexandra De La-mer unless you are about to be killed and need her help.

She was about to stop then but then she thought of all the pranks they have ever played on her. She sat back in her chair and smirked. Oh this was going to entertaining.

The chatter started to pick up again causing Katie to shush them, loudly. She received many disapproving looks as well as confused stares but she paid them no heed.

A small explosion was heard followed by a female yelp shortly after to high pitched screams of pain were heard and the smell of smoke and burnt skin drifted down the stairs into the kitchen.

Many adults sprung on to their feet with their wands ready and proceeded to cautiously walk towards the stairs. Katie would have told them that everything was fine, even if she wasn't a hundred percent sure, but she was laughing to much to tell them anything.

Dumbledore had just lifted his right foot to climb the staircase when two blurs shot down the stairs and fell onto the carpet rolling around screaming, "DROP AND ROLL!"

When the blurs, now identified as the twins, stopped moving everyone got a good look at them before bursting out with laughter, well except Mrs. Weasley and Snape - each for their own reasons. The twins had patches of hair missing, no eyebrows, ridiculously long nose hairs, there clothes had holes burnt through them, you could see two very red cheeks through both of the twins pants and their arm hair was singed off.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Screeched the banshee know as Molly Weasley.

"N-Nothing!"

"Nothing a-at all!"

"Everything's fine."

"Don't know what you are talking about."

Their excuses seemed to vary but all centered around the fact that they didn't do anything wrong, have no idea what's happening and refusals to say anything else on the matter.

Five minutes later a grumbling Nyx came down the stairs dressed in a pair of light wash jeans, a black camisole, an off the shoulder band shirt and a purple sock on the one foot and a blue and pink striped on the other.

"You do know that you have two different socks on, right?" Asked Hermione

Nyx met her gaze and stated in a stubborn tone, "Life is to short to worry about if your socks match." She then proceeded to enter the kitchen and get breakfast. Katie followed while shaking her head as her cousin's weirdness.

"Dobby will love her." Ron told Harry, who could only shake his head with a small smile. _Life sure wasn't going to be dull with her around._

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**Please review but please remember that I try my best to update when I can but it hard. This week alone I have tons of homework, a life science assignment, an IT assignment,a IT test, extra classes and a speech which I am horrible at presenting.**

**McAwesome007**


	8. The Journey From Platform 9 and 34

**Updated:**

**Total words: **10, 458

**UNBETA'd**

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**Sorry about the long wait. We had Wi-Fi problems the last few weeks and Saturday when the Wi-Fi was fixed while I was dancing with my iPad in glee my mom walked by and took my iPad telling me to study for my two test coming up and work on my projects. I wrote of test today, gave in a Life Orientation Project on Monday, halfway with my Accounting assessment, gave my English essay in today and all I still have to do it a crap load of homework, study for my accounting test on Friday, finish my accounting assessment and start preparing for my two math assessments and I have English poetry to learn as well as for my science test.**

**At the moment my mom is at work working late due to her having fired an incompetent worker, so she has to fix all the mistakes - anyway I snuck my iPad out from where she keeps it to try and update as fast as possible.**

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_I've had a hectic time lately and all I do after doing homework and studying is sleeps so when I got chance to type this I did, but I must warn you that sided not get a chance to proofread so if you see any mistakes you are Moore than welcome to inform me and I will fix them as soon as possible._

_Enjoy!_

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**WARNING: Will have Molly bashing in it - screaming match and I really didn't want Nyx to jump down her throat but I had to set some small things in motion**

* * *

After Nyx had eaten her breakfast of blue flapjacks** (I think the Americans call them pancakes but we have something completely different in the regards to pancakes) **everyone made there way to the living room. Everyone made there way to their seats - the twins noticeably far away from Nyx. Harry decided to sit on the same couch has yesterday right next Hermione who had the three chasers next to her. There was one seat left next to Harry, which in his mind was reserved for Nyx and everyone knew that.

Everyone but Ron. The redhead in question plopped onto the couch and stretched before trying to engage Harry into a talk about quidditch.

Harry could only stare at his best mate. _What had he just done? Has he not been paying attention?!_

The females in the room, all except Molly, Ginny and Minerva (who gave an exasperated sigh at the boy's attention skills), glared at the gangly youth. He was ruining the romantic little show of Harry and his future wive!

The Weasley female's were happy and felt that they should reward the youngest boy of the house later on for what he had unknowingly done.

Nyx made her way to a seat next to Fleur trying her best not to look disappointed. She really had wanted to sit next to him. Fleur consoled her by telling her that it looked like Harry was disappointed, but she quickly rearranged her facial expression. She didn't care, of course she didn't she had only known Harry for a day.

Hermione removed her irritated gaze from Ron and asked as calmly as she could, "Who is going to read first?"

"I will." Volunteered Katie.

"**The Journey From Platform Nine and Three-Quarters." ****Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun.**

"Is it ever?" Angelina had a sceptical look.

**True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him, in fact, they didn't speak to him at all.**

Sirius frowned at that as he knew how that felt. To be completely overlooked as if you did not exist. It hurt.

**Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.**

"Many would be depressed if they were in your shoes." Stated Bill to the agreement of the room.

**Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in **_**A History of Magic**_**. His school books were very interesting.**

"No!" The twins and Ron wailed. The twins mockingly and Ron devastated.

**He lay on his bed reading late into the night,**

The twins started sobbing and Ron looked irked while others had a look of distinct pride, Hermione, on the faces._  
_

"I still find them interesting and there isn't much I can do at the Dursley's."

**Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice.**

"My perfect, beautiful owl." Harry said with a happy smile on his face.

Nyx sighed at that. It sounded like Harry was very close to his owl which meant that she would have to get Hedwig's approval and everyone knew owls hated children of Poseidon.

**Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off anther day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.**

"I did that!" Many called including Sirius.

**On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day,**

"Why leave it so late?" Hermione asked always having everything planned out long before the time.

"Gave them less chance to come up with an excuse as well giving them sometime to cool down after the whole Hagrid escapade." Harry replied as nonchalantly as possible.

Frowns were thrown around the room at the book.

**so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.**

There was a slight pause then an eruption of laughter.

Draco laughed his _I'm-better-than-you-laugh_, well he though he did - he had heard it enough from his father but in reality he sounded like a cow giving birth to twins, simultaneously.

"**Er — Uncle Vernon?" Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.**

"**Er — I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to , to go to Hogwarts." Uncle Vernon grunted again.**

"**Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes.**

"**Thank you."**

"You're so polite." Molly cooed and Snape snorted quietly to himself.

"You're making us look bad!" Forge, Gred and Charlie yelled.

**He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke. **"**Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"**

"Illegal." Hermione stated at once.

Harry chuckled and nudged her shoulder while telling her, "We know." Causing her to blush and mumble something under her breath.

**Harry didn't say anything.**

"**Where is this school, anyway?"**

"**I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.** **"I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he read.**

**His aunt and uncle stared. **"**Platform what?"**

"**Nine and three-quarters."**

"**Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."**

'_Petunia knows very well where the platform entrance is!_' Snape silently seethed to himself.

"**It's on my ticket."**

"**Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."**

"**Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.**

"Why bother?" Draco sneered.

"It's called manners - something you apparently know nothing about!" Nyx snapped. Harry flushed from her compliment, but couldn't keep the silly grin of his face. '_She indirectly complimented my manners, she stood up for me and she insulted Draco _all_ in one sentence!'_

"**Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."**

"Awwww." The twins groaned.

**Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep.**

Most heads in the room nodded along in agreement.

**He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes, he'd change on the train.**

"That's good! Saves the ministry a lot of work if refrain from arriving in your robes." Arthur told Harry with a small smile which Harry returned. No one noticed Hermione's blush.

**He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up.**

**Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry, and they had set off.**

"So how much did she pay him?" Asked Tonks

"Now Tonks, they are family why should she have to p-"

Nyx interrupt Molly, "Hey lady, have you been the same book us because it has been obvious the last few chapters that they are most definitely not family!" She breathed in and out until she was calm before turning to Harry, "So how much did she pay you?"

"She's my new best friend!" Yelled an excited Tonks. Not only did she stop the tirade know as Molly Weasley, she asked the exact same question as she had and she's pretty awesome so far. _Yup, definitely best friend material._

Harry chuckled quietly before answering, "I don't know how much for sure but I know I say a note crushed in his fatty fists." Harry grinned, usually if he said something like that in front of Mrs Weasley she would have reprimanded him.

**They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him.**

"Why is 'e being so nice?" Fleur asked, suspicion glinting in her blue eyes.

**Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.**

Nyx's eyes narrowed like her Fleur's.

"**Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine — platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"**

**He was quite right, of course.**

"Shouldn't your aunt know where the platform entrance is?" Alicia asked

"Why?" Responded a confused Harry.

"Well she had to have gone with her parents to drop off your mum at least once or twice, so should have known where, right?"

"Huh, I never thought of that before..." He trailed off in his own thoughts.

**There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.**

"Looks can be deceiving." Tonks interjected.

"Like how you look sweet but can be so evil." Sirius muttered.

"Yes, but that is because you keep calling me by my first name of a different version of it."

"**Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing.**

Everyone fumed

**Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig.**

**He'd have to ask someone.** **He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters.**

"Oh, look he has some common sense." Sneered Snape, Malfoy laughing stupidly next to him.

Sirius growled at him, but Remus pulled him back, but also scowled at the potion master.

**The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose.**

**Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but the guard said there wasn't one.**

**In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a large owl.**

"That's not good." Ginny grimaced.

**Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten.**

**At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

"— **packed with Muggles, of course —"**

"Who would be so irresponsible to say something like that in the muggle world?!" McGonagall asked.

Harry didn't know if he should smile, point who or just ignore it completely.

Molly's face started to turn a very rich red colour.

**Harry swung round.**

**The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair.**

McGonagall huffed, but not retract her statement. Molly glowered at her while the rest of the Weasley family sighed, _She would have us bent over her knee if we did something like that._

**Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him, and they had an **_**owl.**_**  
**

**Heart hammering, Harry pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying.**

**"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.**

"Why ask?" acquired Nyx.

"I don't have to tell you!" Snarled Molly causing Harry to glare at her.

"She only asked a question, a valid question may I add, so you don't have to be rude." Harry told Molly, even though Mrs Weasley has taken care of him when he visits he won't let her treat his future wife like that.

"Listen young man, you will not speak back to me like that! I didn't raise you to be-"

"Exactly! You didn't raise him, you weren't even part of his life when James and Lily were alive! You and Arthur graduated before we even started Hogwarts. The first time you probably met him was when Ron introduced him to you. You have no say whatsoever in his life. He is your youngest son's best friend not your son and you will do well to remember that!" Sirius raged.

Harry sat with his mouth agape.

No one knew what to do. The rest of the Weasleys were conflicted Sirius had a point but that was there mum.

Seeing Molly opening her mouth Katie started reading in a louder voice than usual until Molly couldn't get a word in at all and gave up.

"**Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mum, can't I go…"**

**"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."**

**What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it — but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.**

"It Is a bit surreal." Alicia added.

"**Fred, you next," the plump woman said.**

"**I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you **_**tell **_**I'm George?"**

**"Sorry, George, dear."**

**"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy,**

"No, that was George." Said Forge.

"Yeah, it was George." Added Gred.

The adults in the rooms looked like they were going to have to drink a headache potion soon, a few of the teens looked amused but most were annoyed because of having been confused in the past with which brother was which.

**Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there - and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere.**

**There was nothing else for it.**

**"Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman.**

Katie sped up so that no one could say anything.

**"Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."**

**She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.**

"Thanks mate."

"I can't control what I think." Usually Harry would've gone out of his way to show Ron that he didn't look like that, but he was still a little miffed with his best friend him taking his future wife's seat.

"**Yes," said Harry. "The thing is — the thing is, I don't know how to —"**

"**How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded.**

"**Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."**

"**Er — okay," said Harry. He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid.**

"It is." Harry and Ron groaned.

The adults who knew what happened after their run in with the wall tutted while the rest of the room's occupant that weren't filled in on all their adventures looked confused.

When no one made a move to explain Katie sighed and carried on reading.

**He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble —**

Harry grimaced

**leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run — the barrier was coming nearer and nearer — he wouldn't be able to stop — the cart was out of control — he was a foot away — he closed his eyes ready for the crash —**

**It didn't come…**.

'_That time_.' Ran through some minds.

**he kept on running… he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said ****_Hogwarts' Express, eleven o'clock_****. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words ****_Platform Nine and Three-Quarters _****on it.**

**He had done it.**

Cheers broke out.

Sirius got out of his seat and lift Harry up into a bear hug while swinging him around. As Harry watched the room spin by his gaze locked on a giggling Nyx - time slowed down was he listened to the melodious sound and watching her eyes twinkle and the slight crinkle of her nose. Their eyes met for a few seconds and her giggling transferred to a soft smile that had him trying to catch his breath and then time sped up again back to normal.

Sirius put Harry down and the people started to calm down.

Harry sighed before going back to his seat, missing the small look of longing from the dark haired french witch.

**Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.**

**The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat.**

**He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."**

"**Oh, **_**Neville**_**," he heard the old woman sigh.**

**A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd.**

"**Give us a look, Lee, go on."**

**The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.**

Ron shuddered.

**Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot.**

Many winced, some even rubbed their toes.

"**Want a hand?"**

"You're helping him? Seriously helping him without putting frogs in his luggage or a weird jinx that makes his trunk swallow him?" Angelina asked in disbelieve.

"Yes." They answered simultaneously before Gred started, "We may be pranksters but-"

Forge finished, "-we don't pick on people."

** It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier.**

"**Yes, please," Harry panted.**

"**Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"**

**With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.**

"**Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.**

"**What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.**

"**Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you —?"**

"**He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.**

"**What?" said Harry.**

"_**Harry Potter**_**." chorused the twins.**

"**Oh, him,"**

People laughed.

"'Oh him'?" Asked Nyx while giggling quietly, but not in a rude way.

Harry blushed red and stuttered for a bit before replying as best as he could at the moment, "I hadn't wrapped my head around the fact that I'm famous yet." She just smiled at him before getting distracting by something Fleur murmured to her in french.

**said Harry. **"**I mean, yes, I am."**

**The two boys gawked at him, and Harry felt himself turning red.**

**Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door.**

"**Fred? George? Are you there?"**

"**Coming, Mum."**

**With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train.**

**Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying.**

"Harry!" Ginny and Molly screeched.

Sirius, the twins and Remus high fived him and the other girls shook their heads in exasperation. Harry glanced at Nyx who only shrugged at him, after she thought to herself four years ago she was standing outside of 'Mr. Brunner's' office ease dropping on their conversation.

**Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief. **"**Ron, you've got something on your nose." The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.**

The twins snickered but the rest of the people shook their heads at the blatant Mollycoddling.

"_**Mum**_**— geroff!" He wriggled free.**

"**Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins.**

There was laughter through the room.

"**Shut up," said Ron.**

"**Where's Percy?" said their mother.**

"**He's coming now."**

**The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a red and gold badge on his chest with the letter ****_P _****on it.**

"**Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves —"**

"**Oh, are you a **_**prefect**_**, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."**

"**Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once-"**

"**Or twice —"**

"**A minute —"**

"**All summer —"**

"I really like you guys." Wheezed Sirius, while wiping a tear fatwas from his eye.

"**Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.**

**"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.**

"**Because he's a **_**prefect**_**," said their mother fondly.**

"That does not condone special treatment! You had a child starting 'Ogwart for his first time and if I am to guess you did not get him new robes, non?" Asked Nyx, her french accent seeping through in her frustration.

"How dare you! I rewarded him for him becoming a prefect something he worked hard for any mother would have!" Molly screeched back.

"Yes, a good mozzer would have rewarded 'er child with somet'ing if they had ze money to spare. Not make anozzer child suffer because his mozzer would not by him better robes, _vous appelez vous-même une mère!" _**(And you call yourself a mother!)** She finished in her rage.

During Nyx's ranting Molly's face had started turning red.

"You little bitch! How would you know what a mother is with your french witch of a whore mother spreading her legs just for a Greek god, not even waiting for a ring on her finger!" Gasps flew around the room.

Nyx slowly raised out of her seat. The room began to shake and thunder rumbled from all around. Her hair started to whip around in the wind being created by her anger, her hair changing to a stark white*, the colour of paper, and her eyes lost their sparkling blue colour and the green in her eyes grew darker only to mixed in with swirls of gold.

All those who attempted to intervene, very few tried really and most were doing it half heartedly, found themselves moving in slow motion.

"You will never speak of my mother that way again! You do not know the wonderful woman that she is! My father offered her, her own palace under the sea and more gold than you could ever imagine but she refuse because she is a De Lamer and a De Lamer does not accept help for an easy escape we stay and endure and fight for what we believe in, we fight for our own pride and self worth!"

"You can be glad that you have a family and that you mean something to a few people in this room because if it were not the case your head would have been rolling on the floor for bad mouthing my family!" Her voice carried over the noice never fully reaching a level that could be classified as screaming. She took a deep breath before retreating out of the room taking the earthquake and storm with her.

The room that she had just retreated from was silent in awe and fear - the power she had shown was phenomenal.

Sirius coughed a little before turning to his godson who sat with a stunned expression, "We'll I certainly like her."

All pandemonium broke loose the Weasley matriarch started ranting and her youngest daughter joined soon there after.

Harry was feeling conflicted. Mrs Weasley was always nice to him, but he knew that you never ever say anything about someone's mother and Mrs Weasley was way out of line. He sighed to himself his original idea of trying to tell Nyx that they were, hopefully, going to get married in the future and have children in the next break was ruined.

Remus' werewolf hearing could not take the screams of the red haired banshee anymore cast a silencing charm on her. The noise in the room dropped drastically now that the banshee was silenced and the mini-banshee was as well, being silence a few seconds after their mother by the twin troublemakers.

Fleur huffed in anger, "Never 'ave I ever seen someone insult Lady De Lamer before and ze fact that you 'ave not even met 'er infuriates me even further I can feel ze veela in me wanting to come out and show you what us 'French whores' can do!" She could feel her hands tingling, begging to transform into claws.

After many arguments it was agreed that Mrs Weasley and Ginny would be silenced as well as cast a body bind spell upon them for the remainder of the chapter and that Nikole would be left alone for awhile to cool down.

Katie knowing how her cousin reacted to having her friends and family insulted, especially her mother hurried to finish the chapter so that she could go and check up on her.

**"All right, dear, well, have a good term — send me an owl when you get there."**

**She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins. **"**Now, you two — this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've — you've blown up a toilet or —"**

Remus laughed awkwardly "Never give a prankster ideas."

Molly glowered at him.

**Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."**

"**Great idea though, thanks, Mum."**

"**It's **_**not funny**_**. And look after Ron."**

"**Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."**

"**Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.**

"Stop mentioning that." Ron huffed.

"**Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"**

**Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking.**

Remus, Sirius, Fred and George nodded their heads in approval.

"**You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"**

"**Who?"**

"_**Harry Potter**_**!"**

**Harry heard the little girl's voice. **"**Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, Mum, oh please…"**

Ginny blushed so badly she looked like shed been in the sun for 24 hours strait, but could not turn her burning face away as the body binding spell restricted her. The twins chuckled at her suspense.

"**You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"**

"**Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there — like lightning."**

"It does look really cool." Tonks commented under breath but everyone heard. Harry gave her a mild annoyed look. "What? I know you hate it but it still looks cool!"

"**Poor **_**dear **_**— no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform."**

**Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"**

**Their mother suddenly became very stern.** "**I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."**

"**All right, keep your hair on."**

**A whistle sounded. **"**Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry.**

Ginny somehow became even redder.

"**Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."**

"**We'll send you a Hogwarts' toilet seat."**

"**_George!_****"**

"**Only joking, Mum."**

**The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.**

**Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to — but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.**

"Most things are." Bill grimaced.

"Which is really sad."Charlie added.

**The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest red headed boy came in.**

"**Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."**

People snorted.

"Was it really or did you hear the twins speaking of him and decided to find him?" Asked Charlie in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. Ron's blushing face was answer enough as half hearted laughter filled the room.

**Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose.**

"Again." Ron groaned

"**Hey, Ron." The twins were back.** "**Listen, we're going down the middle of the train — Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."**

"**Right," mumbled Ron.**

**Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."**

"**Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.**

"**Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.**

"Calm and collected." Hermione commented to Ron, who turned a shade darker, but her eyes were on her Harry. Watching her best friend fidget in his chair hardly paying attention and frequently glancing at the door that Nyx had left though minutes before.

**Harry nodded.**

"**Oh — well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got — you know…"**

**He pointed at Harry's forehead.**

**Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared.**

"Subtle." Malfoy snorted.

"**So that's where You-Know-Who —?"**

"**Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."**

"**Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.**

"**Well — I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."**

"**Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.**

"Inflate his already large ego." Severus sneered.

"**Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.**.

"Really?"

"You came from a wizarding family." Harry stated as if it was obvious, but it w clear that his mind was somewhere else.

"**Err — Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."**

"I wonder why?" Malfoy asked sarcastically.

**So you must know loads of magic already." The Weasley's were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.**

Draco shock his head wildly in disgust.

"**I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"**

"**Horrible — well, not all of them.**

**'**_That is good, the boy does not hate the rest of their kind for the mistakes of a few._' Dumbledore thought to himself.

**My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."**

"**Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy.**

This statement brought Molly out of her glowering state to look confusedly at her youngest son.

**I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch.** **Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first.**

"You really think that?" Bill asked appalled. He got a small, almost unnoticeable nod in reply.

**You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."**

No comments were made but what the dark haired french witched had said earlier rang through everyone's minds.

**Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.** "**His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff — I mean, I got Scabbers instead." Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.**

There was an uncomfortable moment and Katie continued reading after being nudged by Alicia to read.

**Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.**

"Hermione, I glossed things over and did not tell him everything so no yelling at Ron." Stated Harry with his best mate rapidly nodding his head in agreement while keeping his big, round fearful eyes on Hermione.

"… **and until Hagrid told "me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort —" Ron gasped.**

People flinched.

"If you fear the name you're just giving him power over you." Remus lectured.

"Could not have said better myself Mr Lupin." Commented Dumbledore.

"**What?" said Harry.**

"_**You said You-Know-Who's name!**_**" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people —"**

"**I'm not trying to be **_**brave **_**or anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't.** **See what I mean? I've got loads to learn… I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."**

"Far from it but if I may ask have you been holding your self because of the Dursleys?" McGonagall said with suspicion.

Harry hesitated before slowly nodding his head, _Yes, he did not try his best._

"**You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."**

**While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.**

**Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"**

**Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor. He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry**— **but the woman didn't have Mars Bars.**

Remus got a glassy look in his eye and Sirius snickered at him. Seeing Harry's questioning gaze Sirius explained, "Remus has a small chocolate obsession."

Many people snorted at that statement, surprisingly even Snape. Remus pouted at them,, making Tonks 'Aww' and try and pinch his cheeks.

**What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life.**

**Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.**

Several whistles went through the room.

"That's a lot."

"I was hungry and I wanted to try everything."

**Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.**

"**Hungry, are you?"**

"**Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.**

**Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside.**

**He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef…"**

"That's my favourite mum." Charlie sighed.

"**Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on —"**

"**You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."**

"**Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten).**

"**What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs.**

"**They're not **_**really **_**frogs, are they?"**

Hermione laughed at the ridiculous question.

"Cockroach clusters." That shut her up pretty quickly.

**He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.**

"**No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."**

"**What?"**

"**Oh, of course, you wouldn't know — Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."**

"I have seven Ptolemy and thirteen Agrippa."

"Remus, with the amount of chocolate frogs James bought you I'd be surprised if you didn't." Minerva snorted.

**Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache.**

**Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.**

Cheers echoed around the room.

"**So **_**this **_**is Dumbledore!" said Harry.**

"**Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!"**

**said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa — thanks —"**

**Harry turned over his card and read:**

_**ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**_

_**CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS**_

_**Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel.**_

'All that time.'

_**Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.**_

**Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared. **"**He's gone!"**

"**Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. **"**He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her… do you want it? You can start collecting."**

**Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped. "Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."**

"Weird." Malfoy commented to himself softly

"**Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "**_**Weird!"**_

Lots of people snorted and Malfoy looked quite sick.

**Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin.**

"Some good cards there. Meriln and Morgana are pretty rare." Remus commented.

**He finally tore his eyes away from the Druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.**

"**You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavor, they **_**mean **_**every flavor — you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger-flavored one once."**

George shudderd.

**Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner. **"**Bleaaargh — see? Sprouts."**

The teenagers, Tonks and Sirius pulled faces.

**They had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper.**

"Good line up."

**The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.**

**There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful.**

"**Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"**

**When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"**

"**He'll turn up," said Harry.**

"Such a sweet boy." The chasers cooed Tonks joining them this time making Harry clamp his hands over his cheeks. The four girls pouted and grumbled about him being no fun.

"**Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him…" He left.**

"**Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk." The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.**

Moony growled at the mention of the rat who destroyed his pack.

"**He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…"**

**He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end. **"**Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway —"**

"That's extremely dangerous." Dumbledore commented and sent Arthur and Molly looks that promised a talk in the near future.

**He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toad less boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.**

"**Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.**

"**We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.**

"**Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.**

"That was very rude, miss Granger." McGonagall told her.

"I know." She responded bashfully.

"**Er — all right." He cleared his throat. **"**Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."**

George and many others chuckled.

**He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.**

"**Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course books by heart,** **of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" ****She said all this very fast.**

"Do you ever breath?." Katie asked while trying to catch her breath.

**Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.**

"**I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.**

"**Harry Potter," said Harry.**

"**Are you really?" said Hermione. **"**I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in**_**Modern Magical History **_**and **_**The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts **_**and **_**Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century**_**."**

"I read those later and they're full of hippo griff dung."

Hermione conceded to that fact but it was hard to do go against her better judgement and say that a book was wrong.

"**Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.**

"**Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."**

**And she left, taking the toad less boy with her.**

"**Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron.**

"Sorry Hermione."

**He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell — George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."**

"**What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.**

"**Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw **_**would **_**be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."**

Harry grew a little pale.

"**That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"**

"**Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.**

"**You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses.**

"So caring." The previous four girls coed again eliciting the same reaction from Harry as before.

**So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?" Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.**

"**Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, ****and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts,"**

"Something for Gringotts?" Bill scoffed jokingly. "My dear brother I am a curse breaker." He finished with a grin elicting giggles and laughs from everyone.

"A sexy curse breaker." Fleur whispered to him and gave him a meaningful kiss redulting in wolf whistles and catcalls.

**said Ron. **"**Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the **_**Daily Prophet**_**, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles — someone tried to rob a high security vault."**

**Harry stared. **"**Really? What happened to them?"**

"**Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."**

**Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort"**

"Fear of a name only increase fear of the thing itself." Harry recited.

**without worrying.**

"**What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked.**

"**Er — I don't know any." Harry confessed.**

"**What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world —" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toad less boy, or Hermione Granger this time.**

**Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop.**

All heads turned to Malfoy then back to the book.

**He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.**

"**Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"**

"**Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.**

"They are." Was muttered by many students and a selected few teachers.

"**Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."**

"The name Bond, James Bond."

Well over half the room laughed as a confused Arthur added it to his list of intriguing things.

**Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.**

"**Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."**

Snape was chanting to himself at this stage, 'Do not face palm! Do not face palm! Do not f...' Mentally of course.

**He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."**

**He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.**

"**I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.**

**Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks. **"**I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents.**

Malfoy sunk down into his chair at all the glares he was receiving.

**They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasley's and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."**

Malfoy was practically on the floor.

**Both Harry and Ron stood up.**

"**Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.**

"**Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered.**

"**Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron.**

"True Gryffindors." Tonks commented.

"**But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some." Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron — Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell.**

Excitement stirred.

**Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle**

**Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once.**

**Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in.**

"**What **_**has **_**been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.**

"**I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry.**

**He looked closer at Scabbers. "No — I don't believe it — he's gone back to sleep."**

**And so he had. **"**You've met Malfoy before?"**

**Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley.**

"**I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched.**

**My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side."**

**He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"**

"**You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"**

"**Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"**

"That's pretty good for Ron."

"**All right — I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"**

"Enough with that." Ron growled.

**Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.**

The Weasleys winced.

**A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."**

**Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.**

**The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"**

Harry couldn't help smiling at the thought of his first friend.

**Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.**

"**C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"**

**Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.**

"**Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."**

**There was a loud "Oooooh!"**

"It's always the same." Dumbledore sighed as people remembered their first time seeing Hogwarts.

**The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.**

**No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione.**

"**Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then — FORWARD!"**

People jumped and glared at Katie who showed no signs of having done anything wrong.

**And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.**

"**Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff;**

**they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.**

"**Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.**

"**Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.**

"Yay! It's your sorting next!" Sirius was practically vibrating in excitement. Not noticing Harry pale dramatically.

**They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. **"**Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"**

**Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.**

"And that's that chapter."

Before anyone could offer to read Harry was up and out the door on his way to find Nyx and see if she was okay. He also wanted to know about her hair and eyes changing.

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*will be explained soon.

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**Thank You all for the reviews, alerts and favorites - it means so much to me!**

**To Guest (So brave of you to forgo your real name, right?) - You reviewed that my fem!Percy was just a wannabe OC character and that her name wasn't even Percy.**

**1. You reviewed on chapter one: their were no personal mentions of fem!percy in chapter one.**

**2. Fem!percy's name is explained in chapter two.**

**3. Fem!percy first appears in chapter two meaning that you did not read anything about her.**

**4. I do not have to have her called Percy too, my story!**

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Please review! School holidays start 20th March! (:


	9. Interlude 3 - Never Joke About Cookies

**SORRY! Been hectic with school, up coming exams, extra classes, aptitude tests, universities visiting our school, having to apply to universities (which I have only really started on now), but enough excuses - here you go.**

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**Updated: 17 April 2013**

**Total words: 2, 114 (Sorry, but it's the best I can do in the little bit of time I get)**

**UNBETA'd**

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Harry ran around checking every room possible to find Nyx, but she was nowhere to be found. He figured she was nearby when he turned down a particular hall because when he opened one of the doors it showed the hall he was standing in - as if he was coming out of a different room. He deduced that Nyx was purposely asking the room to confuse anyone who was looking for her.

Harry started to pace in panic while subconsciously letting his magic pulse around him. His only thought was that he had to find her. As he twisted again to pace back he suddenly experienced a sensation that he would describe as being forced through a tube.

He heard a crack-like sound around him when the sensation stopped he fell down onto the hard floor due to his nausea. He took deep breathes to try and keep his breakfast down and eventually he couldn't hear the blood rushing in his ears anymore, but he did notice the loud music blaring all around the room he had landed in.

Slowly, he stood on his slightly shaking legs and surveyed the room he was in. As soon as he looked around the room he noticed that it looked like an old school gym, like those in boxing movies. He spun around and he found Nyx there with her back to him kicking and hitting the crap out of a punching bag that looked as if it had seen better days. At closer inspection to the room he saw two broken punchbags in the one corner, their stuffing hanging out.

Harry watched Nyx hit and kick as hard as she could. She had changed into black short shorts and a neon green sports bra, she still had shocking white hair. With each kick he watched with fascination as her abdominal muscles flexed with the movement. She was quite sweaty and there was thing Harry knew for sure.

This was one of the hottest things. Ever.

But putting his hormones aside Harry let his brain process what had happened in the sitting room a few minutes prior.

First, Nyx did not remain quiet about things that she was against and was not against fighting unlike most of magical Britain.

Second, you do _not_ insult her mother.

Third, she could get _really_ angry.

Fourth, she was _so_ hot when she was angry.

Fifth, her hair turned stark white.

Sixth, she was really beautiful.

Well the last one was obvious and twenty-four seven.

He slowly approached her not wanting to startle her which would most likely end with a very powerful, very hard kick or punch to his body. Approaching with caution he decided to announce his presence by focusing on the room and switching the music off.

She immediately spun around her expression fierce, her unnaturally white hair flying around, her fists raised to strike if she had to and her whole body was poised to attack.

"Woah! I come in peace." Harry hastily told her while raising his hands in the air with his palms facing her, "Don't hit me, I brought cookies!" He added just in case.

Nyx quickly overcame her shock and even though she was still indescribably angry she couldn't redirect that onto him, so without much thought she let her lips curl into her famous lopsided grin at his attempt to refrain from receiving any bodily harm.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him before adding, in confusion "How did you get in here?"

"Well... I... Uhm..." he had to think a bit because honestly he had no idea "There is no place that I can not enter, no one can hide from me, no one can escape me." He told her with the most serious expression he could muster, but if the twitch of Nyx's soft pink lips was any indication he was failing miserably But he was okay with that because he made her want to smile.

"You have no idea, do you?" She asked him, amusement clear in her voice and in the way her eyes sparkled.

Eyes which he noticed for the first time had changed. The once blue-green beautiful hues were now still the same mint green but with pure gold in the exact same place the once ocean blue was.

"Not at all." He told her with a grin. A grin that later people would tell him was the exact same grin his father use to have on his face in the presence of Harry's mother.

She easily returned his grin with a smile of her own.

"But seriously I came here to make sure that you were fine." He told her, his expression taking on a caring yet serious look.

"Thank you, but don't worry I'll be fine. I just had to blow off some steam before I harmed someone." She told him, feeling touched that he cared how she was doing.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" He asked her

"Well there is nothing talk about really. It is pretty much what you saw." She told him.

"Oh." Was his only reply, he really just wanted to carry on talking to her but he had needed an excuse.

"But that doesn't mean we can't talk." She told him before grabbing his hand in her smaller one and leading him to a giant comfy couch that appeared in the middle of the room. Once they reached the couch they both sunk into the plush cushions without letting go of the other's hand.

"I do want to know about your white hair though." He told her but came out as a question than anything else.

"Well..." She trailed off as she shifted a little and looked down at their intertwined hands. Just as Harry was about to tell her to forget he even asked she started speaking quietly at first but her voice rose to its normal level.

"There was this bad guy, I'll tell you the details some other time, and I was supposedly destined to defeat him, but anyway when he was defeated his very essence that contained his powers exploded outwards and I was the only living being close so it kind off attached itself to me.

"But it's not him!" She hastily added "I just have some of his powers. Powers that I still don't fully know how to use. But anyway when my emotions get the best of me I can't maintain the little bit of control I have and my hair colour changes."

"Huh..." He trailed off having no idea to respond. He was not repulsed in fact quite the opposite it sounded quite cool to him.

"So these cookies?" She asked him to try and defuse the situation.

Harry's face immediately morphed into one of guilt and slight shame, "We'll actually I lied about the cookies, sorry."

Her expression remained neutral, "I'm going to let this slide this once because you did not know, but. Never. _Ever_. Joke. About. Cookies."

"Never again, I promise." He told her solemnly.

"Good." With a stern voice, but it appeared that that was too much for Nyx because she accidentally let a giggle slip which let loose on the giggles she had been holding back which Harry could not help but join - with a manly laugh of his own, of course.

"But seriously don't joke about cookies." Nyx told him once they calmed down.

* * *

There was an awkward silence in the sitting room. No one knew what to do next.

Snape didn't care. The Weasley boys were torn between loyalty to their mum and the face that what Nyx had said was true, Ginny was fuming alongside her mother because that 'French bitch' had the audacity to say those horrible untrue things to her mother, Hermione was impressed by the fight that Nyx had in her.

Many looked confused except Katie who sighed to herself, but none the less was she proud of her cousin almost sister for standing up to the tyrant that is Molly Weasley, who walkways thinks she knows best.

"Mom, I'm hungry." Ron told his mother even though it was left unsaid when his stomach had rumbled two minutes prior to his statement.

The Weasley matriarch only nodded her head before bustling into the kitchen to prepare food for everyone even though not many we're hungry - they were just not full anymore.

Hermione looked towards the door her best friend had ran through only moments ago but before she could fully debate if she should follow she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up into Katie's grass green eyes she knew it wasn't wise to follow but she couldn't help that she cared for Harry, but the slight shake of Katie's head and the small comforting smile finalized her resolve. Harry was a big boy he could do this on his own.

With one last sigh she followed the rest of the reading entourage into the kitchen.

* * *

They both lay on their sides, having come down from their laughing high, facing each other taking in everything they could of the other's face.

Like Nyx could now tell you that Harry's eyes were the exact same shade of emerald green in fact it was as if his eyes were emeralds and that his nose was not completely straight, most likely from to many broken noses, but that suited his good looks perfectly.

Where as Harry could tell you that Nyx had a light dusting of freckles over her nose and cheeks right under eyes but they were so light that if he had to push back a few more centimeters he would not see them, he could also tell you that she had a tiny beauty mark under the corner of her left eye and her eyes... He could write books upon books on her amazing eyes that held him as captivated as the Mona Lisa did to the most artistic people in the world. She was his Mona Lisa.

"Aren't we still supposed to be talking?" He whispered to her, feeling the need to be as quiet possible as not to ruin the moment.

"Yeah, but this is nice. The quiet and comfortable silence. Just being here with you is calming and relaxing." She replied just as quietly.

His heart swelled as she confessed that his presence alone made her calm and at peace. A thought suddenly struck him, '_Now would probably be a good time to let her know we get married in the future._' But he couldn't bring himself to tell her, to be the one to ruin the peaceful expression her face at the moment.

Her eyes were closed, long lashes twitching slightly now and then, her lips were natural except for the slight upwards curve indicating her contentment of the moment.

He didn't want to ruin that, but he had to at least fore warn her because knowing his luck she would find out before he would get a proper chance to tell her.

"Hey Nyx." He called quietly.

"Hmm?" Was the soft reply.

"I don't want to ruin your mood but there is something I have to tell you but can't tell you yet. I have yet to sort it out myself, but I promise I will tell you. Soon, but not now."

She slowly opened her eyes to look at him. Her eyes piercing through him, searching for something.

"Okay, I believe you and thank you for being honest." She told him in a soft voice, her eyes slipping shut again.

"You deserve the truth." He told her in earnest while feeling his own eyes getting heavy.

It was quiet for a few more moments before Nyx's sleepy voice broke the silence this time.

"Harry?"

"Yes, Nyx?" His own voice sounding quite groggy.

"My friends call me Nikki."

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**Hope you enjoyed that! Please review, your opinion means a lot to me and helps me too because if you guys didn't review I probably would have gone to bed earlier but I decided that I owe my reviewers something at least.**

**McAwesome007 :)**


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